Garden to Table Trust

The Garden to Table Programme is currently implemented in 309 schools across New Zealand. 

A revolutionary approach to food education

Children learn best through doing, through positive examples, through trial and error. We need to capture their interest, curiosity and energy as well as their appetites!
As participants in Garden to Table Programme, students discover the pleasures of hands-on food education, through regular classes in a productive vegetable garden and a home-style kitchen classroom.
Students learn to build and maintain a garden according to organic principles, and to grow and harvest a wide variety of vegetables, fruits and herbs. An abundant vegetable garden is created within the school grounds to provide edible, aromatic and beautiful resources for the school kitchen. The creation and care of the garden teaches students about the natural world, its wonders and beauty and how to cultivate and care for it.
In the kitchen, students prepare a range of delicious dishes from the seasonal produce they’ve grown. The finished meal is arranged with pride and care on tables set with flowers from the garden. The shared meal is a time for students, specialists, teachers and volunteers to enjoy the fruits of their labour, and each other’s company and conversation.
An innovative staffing model is crucial to Garden to Table’s success. In both the garden and the kitchen, students work in small groups under the supervision of specialist staff, community volunteers and the classroom teacher. This provides a unique opportunity to learn in an interactive way from adults who are passionate experts in their field.
The Programme is embedded into the curriculum and is a compulsory part of school life from Years 3 to 6 (NB: not all schools involve all 4 year groups at the start). The specialists work closely with a Teacher Coordinator from the teaching staff, planning activities and menus that are integrated into the curriculum. Planning flows from the garden’s seasonal growing cycles, which students experience over a four-year period.
The garden and kitchen provide a real-life context for learning, which interweaves the theories and practices behind growing, harvesting, preparing and sharing fresh, seasonal foods.