Letter Writing to the PM

We have been letter writing this week. Here is one we wrote together.

Owairaka District School

113-115 Richardson Rd

Mt Albert

Auckland

Wednesday 16th May

Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern

Office of the Chief Executive

Level 8 Executive Wing

Parliament Buildings

Wellington

Dear Prime Minister,

We are writing to you because we think you need to know more about the wonderful Garden to Table program that we have here at Owairaka District School in Mt Albert.  

Owairaka School is a multicultural Enviro School and we believe that learning life skills alongside more traditional learning like reading, writing and maths is very important. Room 8 (our class) is an awesome place to learn in and last term we had a Garden to Table session each week. It was an amazing experience. We wish all students in NZ had the same opportunity.

During each session we were encouraged to take risks and try new types of food. Zoe tried a very green smoothie that looked terrible but was really nice. It had spinach and feijoas in it. Tuki tried tofu even though it looked like a sponge. We also made banana skin muffins and none of us had ever eaten banana skins before. They were delicious! Cooking with all parts of the banana also showed us that you can have zero waste in the kitchen if you think carefully about what you are throwing away.

We learn to use knives and garden tools correctly. These are skills we can use and teach at home. Many of the students in Room 8 now help with preparing vegetables for dinner.

Our school has chickens and bees and we use the eggs and honey in our cooking. Our room is responsible for looking after our 4 chickens this year. If you come to visit you could meet them. Their names are Dusty, Ginger Ninja, Betsy and Violet.  

Garden to Table also teaches us about maths and reading in a real life way. Recipes need to read carefully and followed step by step. It makes us slow down and really understand what we have read. We need to measure everything accurately when reading the recipes otherwise disasters can happen. One group read the salt measurement wrong and the muffins tasted awful!  We also have to use measurement skills when planting seeds and using compost and fertilizer.

Garden to Table is a fabulous way to learn about plants. It is fun and we all enjoy sharing a meal together at the end of the session. We think that more students and schools should be able to experience Garden to Table.  We hope this is something that the Government can help with.

But don't just take Room 8’s word for it. You should come and spend some time at our school during a Garden to Table session. We will make the banana skin muffins for you to try and you can see for yourself how incredible this way of learning is.

Yours sincerely,

Room 8,

Owairaka District School