Wallan Primary School has a new kitchen for Year 3-4 specialist classes to use to develop their culinary skills while learning about nutrition.
In a recent community audit, food was identified as a concern to most families, so Principal Tanya Kirkright approached the School Council with a proposal to convert their unused music room into a kitchen classroom with stoves, sinks, island benches, and plenty of utensils.
“It runs like a MasterChef class, and they cook what’s in the mystery box. I just wanted the kids to learn how to be able to cook eggs on toast, and now they are making fruit smoothies, muffins, sushi, and rice paper rolls. They love it,” she said.
The location of the new kitchen supports the garden program, where the students have an outdoor area with raised garden beds and tables and chairs so they can sit down and cut up food scraps for their worm farms.
Specialist teacher Mrs Keenan said the classes complement each other.
“The students are really engaged, they are enjoying learning how to cook, and in the garden program they are learning how to grow the plants and care for them, and they are also using some of the produce in their cooking,” she said.
School Council fundraising helped meet the costs for the new kitchen.
