Salad Central, the Kitchen Garden program at Chevallum State School has added another achievement to their growing list of accolades. Chevallum received the Edible Landscape Award at the Sunshine Coast Council’s Glossies ceremony held at the Sustainability Interpretive Centre at Mooloolaba on Friday evening.

Robyn Cook, program co-ordinator and garden teacher at Chevallum School says “it is great honour for our food gardens to be recognised by the council and our peers. We have successfully grown food at Chevallum School since 1994 but since receiving the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden grant in 2008, the garden and now our kitchen have become an integral part of our school curriculum and school culture. Six Chevallum students gave a cooking demonstration with Stephanie Alexander at the recent Noosa Food and Wine Festival. In October 2010, Salad Central received an Order of Australia Citizenship Award.”

This month Chevallum School was also named a Leader School for the Biological Farmers of Australia’s Organic Schools program. We are one of only two Leader Schools in Queensland and one of ten in Australia. The role of Leader School is to promote organic gardening through practical demonstrations to schools and individuals in our region.

“A garden is a delightful addition to any school but it is much more than just a nice place to be. Think about some of the major issues facing us today, food security, changes in climate and energy use, low uptake of tertiary science and agriculture positions, chronic illness and skills shortage (to name a few) and we can show you how a school garden can contribute solutions.”

“We are teaching a generation of children who will face these issues as adolescents and adults and we must equip them to deal with the changes ahead. Food is only one aspect of a kitchen garden program which also offers lessons in science, humanities, sustainability, maths, languages etc.”

“Last week the Queensland Government announced funding of $1.8m so 25 Queensland Schools can implement the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program and whilst this is most welcome for building infrastructure we also need to discuss how schools fund the extra teachers needed to run these kitchen garden programs.”

There are four Sunshine Coast Schools running the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program; Chevallum, Golden Beach, North Arm and Kin Kin.

For further information, photographs or for an interview contact Robyn Cook on 0458 723 590

For further information on the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation or the BFA Organic Schools Program visit www.kitchengardenfoundation.org.au and www.organicschools.com.au