Pick of the Crop is a whole school program, aimed at increasing the opportunities for primary school students in Queensland to learn about, see, grow and eat more vegetables and fruit. The program started in 2021, in 35 Queensland primary schools and school stories were collected during evaluation through interviews and focus groups.
Below are quotes from one participating school, showing how Pick of the Crop was implemented in an integrated and sustainable way, creating multiple connections across the school while seeing individual changes in student’s knowledge, attitudes and behaviours around vegetables and fruit.
“For new enrolments, one of the draw cards is that kids have access to the sensory and veggie garden.”
Reason for participating
“Our school is a small, semi-rural school with 145 students from prep to year 6… when the opportunity came along with Pick of the Crop, I saw it as a way to
progress our veggie garden and chook pen by adding a sensory garden.”
“We have located the sensory garden in a place that can be accessed by all students during breaks while still being visible by the teacher on playground duty.”
Farmer and food connections
“We organised with the regional coordinator to visit 3 local farms. We used Pick of the Crop funding to pay for the bus. What was really good about this day was that we invited the regional coordinator to come along with us.”
Impacts
“As a result of Pick of the Crop, I have noticed changes in the amount of fresh vegetables going into kids’ lunchboxes. You see a lot more cherry tomatoes,
green beans and qukes in lunchboxes. I have also seen that kids are a lot more informed with improved general knowledge on vegetables, fruit and nutrition.”
“For me the most important change is seeing that kids are prepared to try different things. With our school garden we had a crop of snow peas and kids that ‘don’t eat greens’ were eating snow peas!”
“There is a change in attitude, more awareness and willingness to give things a try whereas before it was, ‘no, I’m not touching it!’.”
Summary
“Everything we have done in Pick of the Crop has been beneficial for the school. It’s a win-win for everybody if we can work together more.”