King Valley kids 'dig' healthy eating

FROM THE MINISTER FOR EDUCATION SERVICES
DATE: Thursday, May 31, 2007

The Minister for Education Services, Jacinta Allan, today planted the seed for a healthy eating education program for students at four King Valley primary schools.

Ms Allan joined students in Edi Upper Primary School’s hot house to plant seeds into trays that will become the first vegetable crop in a ‘Go for your life’ Kitchen Garden Project with Stephanie Alexander.

The kitchen garden project at Edi Upper Primary School is among the first 20 projects to be funded with $62,500 two year grants to help children grow to be healthy, active adults. Another 20 projects will be funded in 2009–2010.

The garden at Edi Upper Primary School will also be tendered by students from Whitfield, Moyhu and Myrrhee Primary Schools.

The idea is the brainchild of food-writer and chef Stephanie Alexander, who created a kitchen garden at Collingwood College in Melbourne where students tend a vegetable garden and then learn how to prepare and cook the fruits of their labour.

Ms Allan said children were usually more willing to try and appreciate food they had grown and prepared themselves.

“By making healthy eating fun through growing, harvesting, preparing and sharing good fresh food we will plant a seed in children’s minds that eating well can be an enjoyable experience,” Ms Allan said.

“This project is introducing King Valley children to the world of edible gardening and cooking and will encourage them to develop positive attitudes towards a wide range of foods.”

Ms Allan said the kitchen garden project reinforced the Government’s ‘Go for your life’ campaign, promoting healthier lifestyles through greater physical activity and healthy eating to address the rising prevalence of obesity and diabetes.

“The Bracks Government put healthy eating on the menu at all Victorian government schools at the start of this year when its ban on the sale of high sugar content soft drinks from school canteens and vending machines came into force,” Ms Allan said.

“This kitchen garden project here at Edi Upper Primary delivers on the commitment we made to Victorians to meet the challenges of the future and invest in the services that matter to their families.”

Healthy ideas growing in the King Valley

archived from The Chronicle 1 June 2007

SEED planting was on the agenda when Minister for Education Services, Jacinta Allan, visited Edi Upper Primary School yesterday.

Edi Upper, in partnership with Whitfield, Moyhu and Myrrhee primary schools, was the recipient of a Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Project grant to help children become healthier and more active by involving them in growing and cooking their own fresh food.

"Every school will have an individual garden and there will be one kitchen at Edi Upper," Edi Upper Primary School principal, Mick Cross, said.