Getting hands-on in the school kitchen Isabella Plains Early Childhood School takes pride in the wellbeing of the school community. That is why they were one of the first schools to sign up to Fresh Tastes, a free ACT Government service designed to assist schools to embed a culture that embraces healthy food and drink. While the school has focused on a number of Teaching children the basics of action areas since late in 2013, one area that cooking is an essential life skill and has been well supported by the school community and the principal is cooking food at teachers have found that children school. are more likely to try the food that they have helped prepare. principal has given us a classroom that “Our has been turned into a kitchen,” said Louise McCormick, the school’s Fresh Tastes a cooking session, we post the recipe on coordinator. that we have a completely “After “Now our Facebook page and in our newsletter,” dedicated space that is well stocked, the said Louise. children go home and tell teachers have said they are more likely to use “The their parents about the healthy food they it with the children.” cooked at school.” the help of Fresh Tastes and a special “With The early childhood school, which offers a school budget to support the purchase of community hub of services for families with ingredients, we have the school pantry stocked children from birth to age eight, also has three and we also have two full cooking kits one in – irrigated vegetable garden beds, two ducks the kitchen and one in the preschool area.” and 11 chickens. had the Kids Pantry team come in and “We educators are using the gardens and conduct cooking sessions with three groups in “The eggs in cooking healthy recipes,” said Louise. 2014,” said Louise. taught the children “They how to cut properly with a knife and the It goes to show that cooking classes can students made some healthy bircher muesli. become a key part of the school curriculum at They really helped to make it a fun any age. experience.” Fresh Tastes is open to all primary schools made sure that each section of the school “We across Canberra. Contact the Fresh Tastes had a teacher representative at the cooking team for information about how your school classes so they could take away the skills and can get involved. use them in their own classroom.”
Getting hands-on in the school kitchen Isabella Plains Early Childhood School takes pride in the wellbeing of the school community. That is why they were one of the first schools to sign up to Fresh Tastes, a free ACT Government service designed to assist schools to embed a culture that embraces healthy food and drink. While the school has focused on a number of action areas since late in 2013, one area that has been well supported by the school community and the principal is cooking food at school. “Our principal has given us a classroom that has been turned into a kitchen,” said Louise McCormick, the school’s Fresh Tastes coordinator. “Now that we have a completely dedicated space that is well stocked, the teachers have said they are more likely to use it with the children.” “With the help of Fresh Tastes and a special school budget to support the purchase of ingredients, we have the school pantry stocked and we also have two full cooking kits – one in the kitchen and one in the preschool area.” “We had the Kids Pantry team come in and conduct cooking sessions with three groups in 2014,” said Louise. “They taught the children how to cut properly with a knife and the students made some healthy bircher muesli. They really helped to make it a fun experience.” “We made sure that each section of the school had a teacher representative at the cooking classes so they could take away the skills and use them in their own classroom.” Teaching children the basics of cooking is an essential life skill and teachers have found that children are more likely to try the food that they have helped prepare. “After a cooking session, we post the recipe on our Facebook page and in our newsletter,” said Louise. “The children go home and tell their parents about the healthy food they cooked at school.” The early childhood school, which offers a community hub of services for families with children from birth to age eight, also has three irrigated vegetable garden beds, two ducks and 11 chickens. “The educators are using the gardens and eggs in cooking healthy recipes,” said Louise. It goes to show that cooking classes can become a key part of the school curriculum at any age. Fresh Tastes is open to all primary schools across Canberra. Contact the Fresh Tastes team for information about how your school can get involved.
Isabella%20Plains%20-%20Cooking%20food.docx