Matthew says all three teachers were keen to see the idea develop and he approached principal Alan Liddle last year.
“He’s really supportive. There’s not a lot of money around, but we said we could work around that, so we’ve been working on a few ideas,” he says.
“In technology, I’ve been doing quite a lot with my classes, either woodwork or DVC [design and visual communications] and we’ve got a few projects going on.
“The juniors have been designing some vertical gardens and planter boxes with the DVC class, visualising how it would look on a wall.”
Thirty-six planter boxes have been made and students are in the process of creating racking for them.
As part of that process, students have been talking to those who will use them, finding out what their needs are, giving them the experience of working with a client.
“From the DVC and woodwork side, it’s been great to have a meaningful project rather than ‘let’s make a toy’,” says Matthew.
An area of banking has been cleared and terraces are being created for planting with timber donated by Pukepine and labour from Seeka.
A separate initiative to grow kiwifruit vines in the ag-horticulture area will now be part of Seed to Plate, with the kiwifruit vines due to be planted towards the end of the current term.
There are also existing garden beds with signs made by technology students.
In the area of food technology, Hayley says having a ready supply that is on site and sustainable will be a “massive thing”.
“That’s part of our mission,” she says.
The hope is the integrated programme will start with Year 9s next year who will then follow it through until Year 13.
Saskia says the programme will be leaving a mark in lots of different ways, for the school and for the students.
“They will know when to plant, know how much we need to grow and have their own projects that can see through like making the planting boxes.
“But it’s long term, not just a one-week thing - then they’ll have to grow something and utilise that as well - it’s a big mix of everything.”
She says pulling everything together is a huge task.
“But hopefully it will be a bit more engaging.”
Hayley says the cross-curricular nature of the programme is what makes it innovative.
She says a lot of the thinking behind the programme can be traced back to the impact of Covid-19 and, since then, the cost of fresh food.
“People wanted to grow their own vegetables but didn’t really know where to start,” she says.
Saskia says the learning environment is one in which students can make mistakes but see that things can work out anyway.
“They will see they can still make product out of it, and get something out of it, even if we’ve not planted the right amount of this or that, it can still work which is really good learning to take out into the real world.
“It doesn’t have to be perfect,” says Hayley. “Carrots don’t have to look like supermarket carrots.”
Two other new areas are being planned - a covered area for teaching and a large preparation area.
Future plans include a Zen or sensory garden, which may be a useful tool in promoting students’ wellbeing, and incorporating the cooking styles of different cultures.
“We are starting off with a grill, but the plan is each year to add a different type of outdoor cooking whether it’s an Indian tagine, a fire pit or hangi,” says Matthew. “And with that goes the learning for the kids and the preparation of the food.”
It will also be an opportunity for the community to be involved by sharing the skills and techniques of students’ different cultures.
“We will be looking for more community contributions at some point and definitely more involvement. We’d like to get different communities to come in ... and use the area.”
Hayley says while she and Saskia have had a lot of ideas, Matthew has been the driving force who has acted as a project manager.
“He’s the doer, and we need that,” says Saskia.
