John Colet School’s kitchen garden has won a national award, coming first in the ‘Down to Earth’ category of the National Kitchen Garden Awards. Judged by Alice Zaslavsky, Stephanie Alexander, Thanh Truong, and Clarence Slockee, our entry demonstrated how our students get their hands dirty, nurturing our kitchen garden soil. Our entry highlighted the magical power of worms in our garden, explained how our students learn the benefits of organic nutrients, and how boosting soil health can yield amazing results.
Our gardening teacher and garden club organiser, Laurie Green, first had the vision to develop the kitchen garden space just over two years ago.
As Mr Wilcock says, “What was once an untended and overlooked corner of our school has been transformed into a vibrant teaching garden. Today, it produces organic herbs, salad greens, and vegetables that supply our vegetarian kitchen, which serves a sit-down lunch to more than 300 students and staff each day. This remarkable transformation is thanks to Laurie’s vision, expertise, and her deep commitment to connecting students with meaningful, hands-on learning experiences.”
Mrs Green added that the garden, in combination with the kitchen, demonstrates a circular food system where plants are grown from seed, eaten by children for lunch, and then composted on site to perpetuate the cycle.
“This is a unique and valuable experience in an urban learning environment, one that I’m grateful to be a part of. It’s truly heartening to see the school and parent community’s support of this program celebrated with this award,” she said.
