The teachers at this low decile school integrate the lessons learned through the gardens into many aspects of the children’s learning. The young students are introduced to vegetables they may not have come across at home, teaching them good nutrition as well as life skills gained around the planting, tending and harvesting of the veges. Cooking the vegetables, making soups, pestos, muffins etc extends maths skills and basic money management is introduced through the selling of baked goods and produce, to finance the next crop!
In May, on a chilly, somewhat foggy Saturday, Rotary New Lynn were back! The gardens were extended with the construction of additional beds for potatoes and flowers (to attract bees for pollination), the building of a manuka fence around the gardens, and the installation of a garden shed.
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| Working party at completion of the project with added support from ‘Harold’ the gregarious giraffe from Life Education Trust. |
Rotary New Lynn pulled in assistance from their members, friends of the Club, and supporters in the local community.
Holes were dug for fences, timber was cut and assembled to create the planters, The shed arrived and was lifted into place.
‘Friends of Rotary’ helping out included four Miss World NZ contestants who demonstrated in a practical fashion the ‘Beauty with a Purpose’ message of 2012’s pageant. They proved to be handy with hammer and power tools!
Rotary Club of New Lynn has a commitment to work with local schools to assist with the creation of gardens for their school communities. This is an on-going project and fits well with the Club’s aims of supporting and empowering young people in our community.
