Victorian Schools Garden Program Awards

Best Edible Garden - Winners in 2018 and 2024

Best Garden for Learning and Wellbeing - Winner in 2023

Best School Garden - Winner in 2021

History of the CSPS Garden

The Kitchen Garden and Chickens program was initiated by a small group of passionate and dedicated parents at the school in 2015 who had a vision to create a magical and productive place where students, teachers and the CSPS community can come together to explore, learn and have fun.

From humble beginnings, CSPS’s garden has gone from a couple of garden beds used by the EEP Grade 3 & 4 classes to learn about gardening and sustainability to a thriving Kitchen Garden with an abundance of vegetables, fruit, citrus trees and a herb garden.

In late 2017, CSPS became a member of the Kitchen Garden Classroom as part of the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation. Since that time through the support of our fabulous community we have run a very popular cooking program. This program enables students to plant, harvest, prepare, share and eat fresh, seasonal and delicious freshly prepared or cooked food.

Why have a Kitchen Garden at School?

A Kitchen Garden creates a fantastic authentic learning environment enabling CSPS to:

Engage children outside of the traditional classroom and allow them to learn about how fresh, seasonal and delicious food is grown in order to form positive food habits for life;
fully integrate the school curriculum or learning framework as it offers infinite possibilities to reinforce literacy, numeracy, science, cultural studies and all aspects of environmental sustainability;
deliver observable social benefits to all children, including those with special needs; and
encourage critical thinking, teamwork, an understanding of cause and effect, and increased levels of observation.

How can you get Involved?

There are a number of ways to get involved in the CSPS Garden.

Volunteer as a Parent Helper in the kitchen to assist students and their teacher during cooking classes.
Volunteer to water and maintain the garden in school holidays.
Join our CSPS Garden Basket raffle. With a $5 donation at the office, you buy a raffle ticket to be in the running for one of our fresh produce baskets that include a selection of seasonal produce from our very own Kitchen Garden. All moneys received goes towards improving our garden.
We welcome donations of garden supplies such as Seasol, Watering Cans, Garden Tools, Bamboo sticks, seeds, etc etc. All donations can be made to the office.
Get involved in the BAGs led School Working Bees which are held periodically during the year to help maintain the school buildings and grounds.

Please register your interest by emailing the school and in which capacity you would like to assist. This way the Garden Committee run by a small group of parents and appointed teachers can let you know of any opportunities as they arise.

Kitchen Garden