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From classroom to kitchen
Building a kitchen classroom is a challenge for primary schools but Nunawading PS has led the way.
As the Kitchen Garden Program values preparing and sharing as much as growing and harvesting, a school needs a kitchen with several work stations for hands-on action if it wants to implement the Program. This is a huge challenge for primary schools, many of which do not even have canteens.
Collingwood College, the school in which the first Kitchen Garden Program was established, is primary and secondary combined and therefore had an old ‘home economics’ kitchen on hand for the Program.
Nunawading Primary school was the first to show how it could be done. A small school of only 60 students, they had two un-used classrooms side by side. The renovation took the better part of six months, with hiccups and triumphs along the way that the school has happily shared with the Kitchen Garden Foundation so other schools can learn and fast-track their own building projects. Much has been learnt about costs, health regulations, asbestos removal, nurturing partnerships with training institutions and the capacity of a small school to draw on community resources. What we have learned:
- The value of an architect’s plan. Local architect Freda Thornton envisaged different coloured work areas surrounding a shared eating space, with the Program’s signature harvest table in the centre. The kitchen is flooded with natural light, provided by a wall of windows, making the space comfortable and homely.
Cabinetry can be very costly. Freda conceived a cost-effective design for the kitchen that could be constructed by a team of volunteers and which would be long-lasting and durable. Parents cut, oiled and assembled the bulk of the bench system with assistance from a skilled carpenter. See the kitchen benches at Building your kitchen and garden. A ‘flat pack’ of this system has subsequently been produced by Holmesglen TAFE for 5 more kitchen garden schools.
Speak with your local training institution as early as possible. They love the students to gain hands-on experience in community projects but they need to schedule it into their teaching program early. Box Hill TAFE students demolished the dividing wall between the two rooms, installed a supporting beam, framed and plastered the storeroom and made oval-shaped dining tables.
Parent working bees are the heart of Kitchen Garden building. The Nunawading parents did as much as they could themselves including painting, polishing floorboards and plastering. A parent craftsperson cut the wooden slab bench top for the harvest table, the table was fitted together by parents.
Seek community assistance through sponsored and heavily discounted goods – at Nunawading this included whitegoods, plumbing supplies including grease trap, plasterboard, laminated shelving and benchtops, amongst other things.
The value of the kitchen renovation is over $50,000. The school was successful in securing sponsorship for over half of that amount.
Nunawading’s bright, home-style and economically produced kitchen has become a model for schools around Victoria and beyond.
Photo: Students preparing roast pumpkin for hand-made gnocchi at Nunawading Primary School
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