The Victorian Schools Garden Award (VSGA) recognises, rewards and celebrates the gardening achievements of schools, their students and community in existing and newly established school gardens. It is run annually across both metropolitan and regional Victoria. The Victorian Schools Garden Awards (VSGA) recognise the importance and value of gardens and outdoor spaces in progressive modern education. Established by Paul Crowe OAM and the late Kevin Heinze in 1977, the Victorian Schools Garden Awards have a long history of bringing the joy of gardens and gardening to school aged children. Held annually, the Awards program recognises new and existing gardens and rewards the achievements of students and school communities in school gardening. For the last 3 years Bonbeach Green Thumbs have submitted into the awards because the VSGA recognises, rewards and celebrates the gardening achievements of schools, their students and community in schools. 2015 and 2016 saw the garden at Bonbeach P.S being recognised and presented with Regional Awards for the efforts made to bring the school garden alive for the students and wider community. Each year the Green Thumbs garden specialists at Bonbeach, select a handful of students to attend the award ceremony. The students that stand out for their dedication, enthusiasm and initiative are the ones that are chosen to represent the school. Celebrating 40yrs of Victorian School Garden Awards this year, it was an honour to be selected to plant the commemorative tree in the Royal Botanical Gardens before the awards with Tim Entwisle Director and Cheif Executive of the Royal Botanical Gardens, Judith Graley MP Parlimentary Secretary for Education and Craig Taberner, CEO of Nursery Garden Industry Vic. We now have a tree to visit to celebrate our acheivments but also to celebrate what it is that brings us all together - nature. The awards ceremony took place under the beautiful oak trees in the Botanical Gardens, Melbourne. Schools from all over the state were recognised for their achievments and awarded with certificates and garden industry vouchers to purchase items for their gardens. Bonbeach was one of these schools receiving a Regional Award but also a State Award, followed by the the most coveted, The Kevin Heinz Perpetual Award! Green Thumbs are very much looking forward to the possibility of installing a green house with the winning funds to help create another dimension to the garden. The full circle of life will be celebrated as the garden provides seeds for furture plants to grow and learn from. It is an honour to be recognised for our achievments in the garden but also to represent the Victorian Schools Garden Awards for the 40th year anniversary. There are so many people to thank but none more the children who enter the garden at Bonbeach P.S and make it what it is! They are the ones who bring the energy and excitment. The wider community for all they do to help the garden grow, the principal for believing in and supporting what can be achieved by many hands, the teachers and Amy & Jade, the driving force behind it. VSGA www.schoolsgardenawards.org.au
Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne www.rbg.vic.gov.au Bonbeach Primary School www.bonbeachps.vic.edu.au
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NO PACKET NOVEMBER aims to teach our children that real food is grown. Join us as we get kids excited about real food minus the wrappers! WHAT DOES IT INVOLVE? We want you to reduce the amount of packaged food you put into your kids and your own lunchboxes for the month of November and replace with real food/home baked items. There is nothing better than harvesting your own food that you have grown! All grades have been harvesting their crops that were planted in winter. Grades 2's got to pick their strawberries that they grew in the Vegepod and what a crop it has been so far. Deliciously sweet and juicy strawberries were shared amongst the grade. They continue to care for their crop and look forward to many many many more yummy sweet organic strawberries. Grade 3 and 4 spent an afternoon of harvesting their late winter crops with squeels of delight when pulling up carrots. Curly, bent and twisted the carrots were a favorite! Not to mention beetroots, lettuce, spring onions, broccoli, cauliflower and peas. Students planted a sunflower seed & pea seed in a recycled coffee cup to take home and nurture. Kids are now seeing the effects of what water, warmth and air can do to a seed. It Grows! When growing food can be done at home in a small container, the message of growing your own food stays with them longer than just a class at school. Maintaining their crops was done with pride and proved to be very successful with a great harvest of different types of foods. Students picked caterpillars from their brassica plants and even hatched a cabbage moth! They sang songs to their beetroots. Once a week for 9 weeks, students learnt in the garden under the school's science curriculum. They learnt how to use tools safely, the life cycle of worms, life cycle of seeds, organic pest control, life cycle of cabbage moths, planting methods, companion planting and were tested at the end. Written by Growing Green Thumbs, the program was enjoyed by students and teachers. As always a big thank you to Scotsburn Nursery for providing the school with seedlings! and the secret deliveries of seedlings that appear every term from a very special lady called 'nonna' ! Happy growing, harvesting and eating. |
A visual diary of the garden at Bonbeach Primary School built by Growing Green Thumbs & many many little hands
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November 2017
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