Children’s Community Garden at Myuna Farm

“Our vision is for a community that grows, cultivates and consumes fresh and healthy fruit and vegetables and recycles and reuses to the best of its ability.”
Doveton North Primary School, Victoria

Doveton North is a primary school in the city of Casey, 30 kilometers south east of Melbourne’s central business district. Doveton-Eumemmerring is a neighborhood renewal site, with 13% of residents in public housing. It is a common destination for new migrants including many recent refugees from the horn of Africa. Some of these families experience significant challenges including little experience with schools, suspicion towards public institutions and little opportunity for parents to engage in community activities. Some students have incidences of psychological trauma stemming from violent experiences in war zones.

The Centre for Adolescent Health suggested that Doveton North Primary School look at the ruMAD? framework as a vehicle for students to engage the community and take ownership of the challenges facing their local area. One teacher at the school said that although the school had a strong history of community engagement, they struggled to maintain long-term relationships.
“You have a really great idea, you get as many people involved, you have a really great memory and that’s it. For the cluster, what we recognised fairly early on is that we need to be better connected with our community as a group of schools. The origin of that is the Principles of Learning and Teaching. Principle six is about connecting with the community.”
Michael Polack, Cluster Educator – Doveton/Eumemmerring

Many teachers also noted a philosophy of learning consistent with the ruMAD? framework.
“Our approach, when talking about literacy, numeracy whatever, is to give a purpose for learning. So we’re always trying to create and develop programs that will engage kids in doing more than just the surface learning, to really engage in the activity. [Gary] has taught me to do more than just look through the book or surf the net, but to really get out there. Once you’ve got this knowledge how can we use it, how can we really empower these kids to learn?”
Amy Wahid, Teacher – Doveton North Primary School

A few blocks down the road from the school lies Myuna Farm, a public community farm in the south-east area of Melbourne. It is an excellent example of farming life which includes a small block of land with several community garden plots. The farm had a relationship with the school in the past, and in previous years students from Grade 5 and 6 had spent time at the farm, learning the details of recycling. The farm manager was excited at the prospect of students informing the community of ideas about recycling, energy saving and sustainability. He supported the ruMAD? philosophy of students themselves generating the ideas and sharing them with the community. Eventually they came up with an idea to design their own large recycling bin, an idea that was supported by the City of Casey.

In 2007 the school was focusing on sustainability and healthy eating, and so the grade 3 and 4 class decided to build on this pre-existing relationship at the farm. With assistance from their teacher, they contacted the farm manager and asked if they could put forward an idea. After observing the farm, they asked for a garden plot which they could have as their own. The Grade 3 and 4 students spent time each week over the next few months down at the farm, watching people work in the Asian community garden and learning the details of recycling, composting and preparing the soil for their own plot. They planted seeds and seedlings and returned each week to watch the plants grow.
“What is really nice about the ruMAD? philosophy is that the project ideas are generated by the kids. It is the kids getting into it, it’s the kids going through the process, it’s the children who are generating the ideas and the teachers are there as a guide.”
Amy Wahid, Teacher – Doveton North Primary School

The project has received widespread recognition as an example of students learning about horticulture and sustainability through practice. It has also acted as a community hub for many parents of students. This has had a positive impact on many recently arrived families, providing a non-threatening point of contact with the school, a community organisation and other parents. The students themselves are very proud to show what they have achieved. Neighbourhood Renewal has recognised the benefit for the community of the project and provided funding for it to continue. [Amy] explains her motives for connecting with the farm:
“I wanted to use the resources that I knew were down there [at Myuna farm], get the expertise that I knew was down there, work with those people, get the kids working with those people and then transfer their knowledge and skill back to the school to create our own garden. Once that’s established it wouldn’t matter if I’m here next year or not, it would be something that would be sustainable. But that’s only one branch of the project.”
Amy Wahid, Teacher – Doveton North Primary School