Kaipara Flats school introduced gardening into its curriculum last year and the resulting enthusiasm from teachers and students has seen the programme go from strength to strength.
Currently, each class has its own small plot to attend and their produce includes spring onions, carrots, strawberries, kale, broccoli, lettuce, beetroot, radish turnips, and fennel.
In addition, fruit trees provide feijoa, apples, oranges, mandarins and passionfruit.
The school has been spurred on in its efforts by The Garden to Table Trust, which works with schools to create gardens and encourage children to harvest, cook and eat the produce.
Among the treats cooked up in the Kaipara Flats kitchen classroom have been beetroot cupcakes, roasted cauliflower and apple crumble.
Children prepare the food in different groups and compete to see who can produce the tastiest dish.
Kaipara Flats principal Debbie Hamer says gardening informs many aspects of the school curriculum, providing insights into science, health, nutrition and even mathematics – where children might use their six times table, for example, to calculate how many seedlings there are in several punnets.
In addition, children learn practical skills like composting, harvesting, preserving and cooking food.
Children also learn to deal with various challenges. Recently, a promising crop of radishes disappeared following an invasion of snails and slugs, prompting a lesson in how to keep the critters at bay.
The school is planning to expand its gardens and kitchen facilities next year and perhaps introduce an outside dining area for eating garden produce featuring ovens for creating wood-fired pizzas.
Ms Hamer says when children have a clear understanding that their food comes from the earth, it teaches them to cherish their environment.
“It just feels so natural to get children outside and watch nature do its thing,” she says.
