GIY has launched a fund to support their food education programme GROW At School. The ambition is to see every primary school in Ireland with a garden that can be used for learning how to grow food, exploration, and reconnection with nature.
The organisation has just completed a four-year pilot programme, which provided 32 schools across the country with raised garden beds and seeds for an entire school year’s worth of food growing. The pilot programme was backed by The Community Foundation for Ireland and the evaluation report for the pilot programme outlines its huge success.
Teachers declared that they found the garden to be a useful teaching tool across most subjects of the curriculum and that it also allowed them to get closer to the pupils and learn more about them in an informal setting.
The pupil’s evaluation was measured on reaction, learning, behaviour and results. Their reactions included excitement and fascination and it was noted that the sensory reaction was important for some. Teachers said “You should see the smiles on their faces when in the garden. 2 pupils with sensory needs loved the feel of compost – soft & light going through their fingers”
In terms of learning, the garden was useful as a teaching resource and provided opportunities to link with science, maths, English, geography, history and sustainability. Children also learned from their mistakes and that it was ok to get it wrong and try again importantly, they learned about food, seasonality and that non-processed is better for their health. In terms of behavioural changes, children noted that they wanted to try new foods and the foods that they had grown. Teachers also noted that pupils behaved more calmly in the garden and that children were more open to conversation, “they talk about everything out in the garden”.
Higher-level impacts on pupils were noted by the teachers on a number of different levels which included inclusivity, well-being, confidence and social skills.
By 2024 GIY aim to deliver GROW At School to approximately 50% of Primary schools in Ireland, with the aim to support food growing in all schools in Ireland by 2030. In the period 2022 to 2024, the ambition is to see 1,600 schools with their own gardens with 1⁄4 Million school children with access to a school garden or classroom growing kit and 7,460 estimated teachers empowered to provide garden-based learning.
On the back of the completion of the pilot programme evaluation report in June 2022 GIY provided a submission to the Oireachtas Committee on Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science for the provision of school gardens and support of food growing in Primary Schools nationwide. The submission was presented in order to recommend the implementation of food growing in primary schools in Ireland. Founder of GIY Michael Kelly will be meeting with the committee in September of this year to discuss the details of the submission and how it could potentially be implemented.
Speaking about their ambitions and delivering GROW At School Michael Kelly says,
“The success and the learning from the pilot programme over the last four years speaks for itself and the programme is now ready for scale nationally. To date, GIY has secured philanthropic and voluntary funds in excess of €500,000 committed to the GROW At School Programme. Departmental funding could provide match funding to deliver the programme’s ambitions.
The implementation of GROW At School as a national food education & garden-based learning programme would lay the foundations for food system understanding, support sustainable behaviour at school & at home & take a ‘Shared Future’ approach by educating and informing students about food at Primary level thereby providing a baseline knowledge for subjects such as the Climate Action and Sustainable Development subject introduced to the Secondary school curriculum in 2021. ”
GIY have been invited to send a submission to the Education Committee in relation to ‘mental health & tertiary education’ in September. Commenting on the launch of the GROW At School programme Minister for Mental Health and Older People Mary Butler said, “I am supporting the Grow At School GIY initiative for schools in Ireland. People might ask how you link mental health and gardens and growing your own food. From my own perspective in my own downtime on a Sunday morning, a favourite thing to do is to spend time working in the garden; it is beneficial for our mental health.
This programme also establishes knowledge and behaviours from a very early age to make healthier food choices, and it will help to reduce food waste. Young people are leading the way across the world in the areas of climate and environmental stability. What I love about the Grow At School project is that it promotes a sense of belonging and community as everyone feels included in the garden and it will have a really positive impact on mental health.”
For further details on GIY and GROW At School see, https://giy.ie/programmes/