Rockcliffe Park Public School

Video

About our Garden

Please describe your garden, is it raised beds, in the ground, do you have a greenhouse?

Rockcliffe Park Public School has 8 raised beds in which herbs, vegetables and fruits are grown. The garden beds have been in place for approximately 20 years under the stewardship of Mme Emilie Montgrain.
There is also a separate existing pollinator garden. This was formed by creating a circle of stones. The bed is planted with a variety of butterfly plants, such as cone flowers, milk weed, butterfly weed and bee balm.
With the NFL grant, we are also adding a raised garden bed, that will be dedicated for kindergarten use.

What vegetables/fruit do you grow in your garden? What do you have a difficult time growing in your school garden?

The garden beds have been planted with a variety of edible plants, including kale, beans,
tomatoes, zucchini, mint, strawberries, a variety of squash & pumpkin, peas, radishes, beets and cantaloupes. The plants change year to year depending on which seeds and semis have been donated to plant. There are also flowers added to these beds to attract pollinators and prevent pests.

Why did your school decide to add a school garden?

Gardens are a hands-on way of teaching many subjects. The tactile nature of gardens allows different learners the opportunity to learn a variety of subjects outside the classroom. In particular it can bring science to life, but has also been used for math, art and language classes. For the Kindergarten classes, having dedicated garden beds allows them to interact with the gardens and the chance to make mistakes in these dedicated beds, without interrupting other lessons being taught to the older grades in the existing garden beds.

What classes participate in the garden, what subjects are taught in the garden?

All classes are welcome to use the gardens, from Junior Kindergarten through Grade 6. Use of the gardens depends on the classroom teacher. Mme Emilie is the main user of the gardens. She has used it regularly for two separate science units, one on soils and one on plants, as well as for math (for example to measure permitter and area), for health (for example discussing food groups), for wellness (for example making garden mandalas using petals and leaves) and for social studies (for example discussing food culture and First Nations’ approaches to cultivation).

Kindergarten classes have used it for to observe the changes with the changing seasons. After learning about plant parts, they use the garden to observe plant growth.

Who manages the garden day to day? Who manages the garden over the Summer break?

Mme Emilie is the main custodian, both through the school year and over the summer when she coordinates with school families to regularly water and weed the beds.

What do you do with the harvest from your garden? Do you have a harvest celebration? Do you use it in the cafeteria, or culinary classes? Do you donate some of the produce?

In the fall, Mme Emilie’s classes harvest the fruits and vegetables. They have used the bounty to prepare salads, bruschetta and zucchini bread. The students also regularly sample the produce straight from the garden, delighting in the fresh flavours. Many students have discovered they like a wide variety of vegetables from the RPPS gardens, including beans, tomatoes and kale.

Do you have community involvement? Do you have parents and volunteers? Have been able to source other funding to help your garden grow?

The school community regularly helps with maintenance of the gardens. When there is a bigger project needed, such as clearing the beds, often students will help through the Environmental Club, or parents from the school community are invited to participate. The School Council has also been able to support the garden from time to time as an additional source of funding.

What are your future plans for the school garden?

RPPS is considering building an outdoor classroom adjacent to the main garden beds. This would encourage and facilitate other classes in the school to use the gardens.