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Partnering with Health and Wellbeing Queensland’s state-wide initiative Pick of the Crop, Darling Downs Health is planting healthy food habits across schools in the region.
Walking through the gates of Meringandan State School, the first thing you see are garden beds full of fresh produce.
Head of Curriculum at Meringandan State School, Kerry Thompson said the produce is a result of the school getting involved with Pick of the Crop.
“We got involved with Pick of the Crop through Darling Downs Health as we saw an opportunity to be able to engage students with developing the gardens for starters and then start to build interest in nutrition through the fruit and vegetable crop.
“A lot of the students think vegetables just come in packets, so for them to be able to plant vegetables, watch them grow, then pick it straight out of the ground and go ‘this is a carrot, this is where it came from’ has created lots of excitement.
“Pick of the Crop has been beneficial to our school community, it’s not just promoting healthy eating habits, it’s helping with wellbeing and mental health,”
Head of Curriculum at Meringandan State School, Kerry Thompson
For Year 1 teacher Shannon Prowse, the vegetable gardens have enabled many learning opportunities.
“I can embed the vegetable gardens in all curriculum areas. For instance, a few weeks ago we made a salad for the principal, he emailed us asking for a recipe, we’re currently teaching students procedures in English, so students were able to write down the recipe. Also in maths, we’ve been looking at the duration of time so how long it takes for a seedling to grow to full maturity,” Ms Prowse said.
Pick of the Crop is a whole school initiative to increase fruit and vegetable consumption among Queensland primary school aged children.
Darling Downs Health Assistant Director Nutrition and Dietetics, Danielle Schefe said there’s currently seven state primary schools across the region involved with Pick of the Crop, with a further 12 schools currently working on action plans to submit for approval.
“We’d really like to see this number increase. Statistically speaking, fruit and vegetable consumption is quite poor, only 3.1% of Queensland children aged five-11 are eating the recommended amount of five serves of vegetables every day, while 80% eat the recommended two serves of fruit every day
“Pick of the Crop includes five key components: parent and family connections, vegetables and fruit at school, teaching and learning programs, farmer and food connections and healthy school environments.
“Getting your school involved with Pick of the Crop is simple. We work alongside schools to develop an action plan of how they will integrate the five key components, the plan is then submitted to Health and Wellbeing Queensland. Once the plan is approved, the school can apply for funding which will be received in a lump sum,” Ms Schefe said.
To get involved with Pick of the Crop email, ddh_potc@health.qld.gov.au.