Every Monday lunch time, members of the Garden Club at Chalcot Lodge Primary School in Endeavour Hills get together – digging, harvesting, and gaining a great sense of purpose and satisfaction through their gardening activities.
Pioneer of the Garden Club is one of the teachers, Catherine Bracegirdle, who is also an avid gardener.
The club was extended to include therapeutic gardening in 2021, bringing on board horticultural therapist Tanya Bearup to provide an opportunity for more students to engage in gardening to improve their social, emotional and physical wellbeing.
“The students achieved this through cooperatively gardening together, being outside and learning new skills,” Ms Bearup said.
“I am delighted by the energy, enthusiasm and passion for the environment and gardening that the students brought with them into the garden space.”
At Garden Club, students are able to prepare and tend to the garden beds by weeding, turning over the soil, adding nutrients through composting and fertilisers and learning how to mulch.
“They also sow seeds and plant seedlings. Some of their favourite activities include digging and harvesting as well as watering the garden,” Ms Bearup said.
“Students also love finding the worms in the healthy soil they have helped prepare and especially in our new composting system and worm farm.”
In addition to supporting student wellbeing, a gardening program is also a valuable resource when it comes to teaching important transferable skills.
For example, a gardening program provides an activity that is fun to do together to accomplish big tasks through negotiation and cooperation in a safe space.
Older or more experienced student gardeners are able to ‘buddy’ with younger students and teach them how to do simple tasks which can encourage peer to peer learning.
“A designated garden space in a school provides a calming area that can be utilised by education support staff to support students having difficulty integrating during class time.
“Grounding and sensory activities can be undertaken to help students who may be feeling overwhelmed or needing emotional support,” Mr Bearup said.
Ms Bearup says connecting students with nature is a “powerful evidence-based intervention” to improve mental health.
The Garden Club were selected as Junior Landcarers in Action as part of their 25 year anniversary celebrations.
