A vegetable garden for Yallourn North preschoolers equipped with colourful play equipment to engage all the senses has been the brainchild of 16 students at Kurnai College.
The year 10s involved in the program had their final session at the kindergarten today and watched as the kids stormed into the new space they had created, opening hatches, tapping wind chimes and sending marbles rolling.
Next term the students will head into work placement with new practical skills.
Kurnai College VCAL advocate Brett Gay said many of the students had low school attendance in year 9.
“They didn’t really see a purpose so when they get to see their maths and English goes into something that actually gets created then they really excel and they love it and they keep coming to school,” Mr Gay said.
The teenagers are involved in what is called pre-CAL, to precede the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning which offers students a hands-on option for year 11 and 12.
Mr Gay said while the students learnt skills with hand tools, the main skill they gained was teamwork.
“It also ties in with their literacy and numeracy skills they have to do in class,” Mr Gay said.
The students designed the play area, which features a watering system, art work, mud kitchen, sensory garden and more, then wrote about their feats in the school newsletter.
Sixteen-year-old Cayden, who helped create the mud kitchen, said he learnt skills such as how to nail boards without splitting the material, how to attach items to a brick surface and how to make sure dirt was level before building.
“When I get a full-time job I will be able to use these skills all the time,” Cayden, who wants to be a carpenter, said.
“[The children] will come in with big gumboots and stomp around in the mud.”
The mud kitchen includes a sink on a frame made from an old fence found on the site.
Adrian, 16, helped set up the water tanks.
“We had to make the tank safe enough so it doesn’t fall, so it’s nice and solid and it’s not going anywhere,” Adrian said.
Mr Gay said there were some “final touches” to be made to the site, however, the students were pretty excited to see the final product.
“Everyone’s worked well and they’re pretty happy, so we’ll celebrate with some fish and chips today,” Mr Gay said.
