Garden to Table is a charitable trust that supports primary and intermediate schools and kura to take learning out of the classroom and into the garden and the kitchen. Our schools teach thousands of kiwi kids knowledge and skills that have a transformative and lifelong impact on their hauora â wellbeing â and on the world around them.
At Garden to Table, we believe that tamariki are changemakers.
Our kaupapa is to empower tamariki to grow, harvest, prepare and share great food.
We enable schools and kura throughout the motu to deliver, embed and sustain impactful food education. Through our curriculum-linked food education programme, we take learning out of the classroom, and empower Kiwi kids to grow and cook their own fresh, seasonal, and environmentally sustainable kai.
Our programme is highly practical and child-centric, supporting students to learn to work together. The theme of âkids doing everythingâ is a key component of the sessions; skills are not watered down for tamariki and they learn to operate in the kitchen and garden as they would at home, with careful observation and guidance.
We also teach children to nurture, share, and manaaki guests, whilst building awareness of individual and collective responsibility to manaaki te taiao - care for our environment. Supporting childrenâs health and wellbeing is central, and celebrating the preparing and sharing of great food fosters community connectedness. Â
Bringing these skills back builds the resilience needed for life, and helps combat todayâs pressing health, educational, social and environmental challenges. These positive impacts radiate far beyond school gates â to whÄnau - families, the wider community, and the planet â ultimately enabling a more sustainable, equitable and climate friendly social and economic future.
Our dream is for every child in Aotearoa New Zealand to have the opportunity and resources to grow and share their own fresh kai as part of daily life.