Farm My School Kicks Goals

It’s been a big few weeks for the Farm My School team and members from our BCH Healthy Communities team who support them.

The farm gates were thrown open at Bellarine Secondary College for a community party to celebrate two years since the farm was built. Ambassador Costa Georgiadis helped the team cut the birthday cake on the day of the event.

Costa has also been back to the farm again in the past couple of weeks to film a segment for ABC TV’s Gardening Australia. Costa and the crew spent two days on-site filming.

Last week, Farm My School co-founder James McLennan took out the inaugural Jamie Oliver Food Hero Award in the ‘Food Entrepreneur’ category.

The Food Hero Awards celebrate unsung heroes who are positively changing the Australian food system. The Entrepreneur Awards recognises those who focus on food systems education.

In addition to Farm My School, James runs Grassroots Sustainability which focuses on the whole food cycle and bringing it back to the food we eat and the importance of eating local, seasonal, spray free, nutrient dense food.

The Farm My School team have also taken out the Geelong Community Foundation P500 pitch winning $80 K which will go towards the farmer traineeship program and to employ someone to focus on community/volunteer engagement with the farm.

Farm My School is a ground-breaking model of food education that has transformed an unused soccer pitch at Bellarine Secondary College into a regenerative market garden that feeds, educates and connects communities.

Learn more about Farm My School HERE.

Our BCH Healthy Communities team is playing a key role investigating the potential of a School Lunch Program at Bellarine Secondary College.

This is a collaborative project in partnership with BSC and Deakin University. This week a parent/guardian survey was launched, inviting families to answer practical questions such as “Would your child prefer to sit and eat their lunch or have a lunch that they can grab and go?”. The survey responses will contribute to the design of a school lunch pilot that.

The BCH Healthy Communities team recently made a submission to the Victorian Parliamentary inquiry into food security, calling on the Government to support a state-wide school meal program.

The final report was tabled in parliament on November 14, 2024, and the Government has six months to respond to the report.

The report made 25 recommendations, including to improve the food literacy of Victorians, particularly First Nations people and culturally and linguistically diverse people.

Among the recommendations in the report is that the Victorian Government trial and evaluate a school meal program that provides breakfast through to lunch, using partnerships with local food providers and community organisations. The trial should target schools with high rates of food insecurity and other forms of disadvantage.

Read the full report HERE.

Farm My School Kicks Goals