Completed August 2021
With an existing greenhouse, Food Ladder began discussing opportunities with Sheffield School in regards to the installation of an effective hydroponic system. Work began in early August 2021 and only took a couple of days to construct with a lot of help from Year 4 to Year 6 students. Apart from the hands-on learning experience of construction, the produce from this system will be utilised in the healthy eating programs.
Sheffield is a town on the North-West Coast of Tasmania, inland from Devonport. It’s home to Sheffield School, which has 441 students from Kindergarten to Year 12, where 12 per cent of the students have an Indigenous background and 2 per cent have a language background other than English.
Progress since completion
Since the greenhouse’s completion in August 2021, Sheffield School have had 4 successful harvests. The Year 5 and 6 students have taken on the primary responsibility for the greenhouse, its maintenance, harvesting and cooking of the produce. However, the whole primary school have been involved with weekly class visits and cooking classes. With over 200 students involved every term.
The greenhouse, in tandem with Wellington’s pre-existing kitchen garden program and outdoor garden, have been extremely successful in educating the students on the entire paddock to plate process. The students have focused on growing leafy greens, specifically lettuces, spinach and basil.
Each term the harvested produce is eaten by students and used in cooking classes. Additional produce is donated to the school community and families in need.
Food Ladder acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which this greenhouse is built, the Palawa peoples. We celebrate the diversity of Aboriginal peoples and their ongoing cultures and connections to the lands and waters of Tasmania. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging and acknowledge the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people that contributed to the development of this resource.