Weston School will soon be able to provide a complete garden-to-table learning experience for its pupils.

A new classroom arrived via truck at the school yesterday (Tuesday) morning, and the plan is to have three fully-equipped kitchens installed in it by early next year, principal Deidre Senior said.

The idea came about through a number of things that “just aligned”. There was a temporary portacom on site as a staffroom while new classrooms were being built last year, and it was beside the school garden, orchard and tunnel house.

“We realised then that a kitchen facility would be a great opportunity for our children to look at the garden as more than a place of raw fruit and vegetables, but as a place where production starts,” Deidre said.

The kitchens will also complement the new year 7 and 8 technology programme, which began this year at the school. Previously pupils were bussed to Oamaru Intermediate School for one week of every term.

“This gives us the opportunity to have a direct connection with our local community with this programme, whether it is getting experts like Kelly (Harvey) from Tutu Hill Cakes in to support the programme, or having our students create things like relishes and chutneys from the tunnel house for people in our community.” 

The building has been mainly funded by Otago Community Trust and Oamaru Licensing Trust grants, along with donations from the Home and School.

Placemakers Oamaru and Specialised Services Group have both also provided work at no cost to the school, Deidre said.

“We are very grateful to these businesses and organisations who have made this possible for us. Our board has funded the remaining amount.”

The kitchen classroom is not big enough for a whole class of children, but along with the staffroom kitchen, there are four kitchen facilities available for groups to use.

“It's also hoped that for the likes of our Matariki breakfast and hangi, we can use this facility as a base for the catering and organisation of the food for the community,” she said.

The technology programme came about from to a desire to focus on localising school curriculum so it was relevant to the children and where they live, Deidre said.

“And also so that our community can see the connection between what our students are doing and what goes on in the wider Weston community.” 

The programme includes industry visits, so children can link their learnings with potential jobs available locally, such as at The Natural Dairy and Whitestone Cheese where they got to see sustainably-focused milk production, and cheesemaking (as well as tasting).

Visits to AcuCut, Top Flite, Apex Engineering and the Waitaki Museum & Archive also provided connections that were reinforced with hands-on learning opportunities back at school. 

As well, a makerspace room at the school provides digitech-based learning through a wide range of resources from a laser cutter, to robotics, sewing machines, 3D printers and electronics. 

“There's a real emphasis on teaching children to code and programme, so that they can see where these technologies are used in our community, ” Deidre said.

Many of the year 7 and 8 students have identified the technology programme as a highlight for them this year.

“We are very lucky in that our teachers have a passion for this focus on contextualised learning and have developed some really strong programmes. I'm very grateful to them for the work that they have put into making this successful,” she said.

“At a time where so many of the basic skills of life are getting harder to find in some of our young people, I'd like to think that every student who leaves Weston will know how a number of things grow, will have been part of helping things grow, and will be able to operate sufficiently in a kitchen.”

Many of the children’s experiences are also tied to Weston’s Enviroschools ethos, and along with other efforts, contributed to the school being named a Silver Enviroschool on Monday.