Activities include feeling the dirt on their hands, sensing the textures of leaves, and experiencing the slickness of cooking oil on their fingers.
For the 80 students attending the school, the Garden to Table and Paddock to Plate programmes, held on alternate Thursdays, are exciting parts of their curriculum.
The Paddock to Plate programme was established more than five years ago by parents in the rural North Loburn community and is aimed at teaching their senior students about where their meat comes from and how it is prepared for them to enjoy.
The Garden to Table programme has been running for over 10 years. It also helps children understand where their food comes from — how to grow, harvest, prepare and share delicious fresh, healthy food, giving them the opportunity to sample a wide variety of vegetables and fruits grown on the school premises.
Students engage in various activities, such as carefully potting tiny seeds, watching them grow, weeding garden beds, and harvesting vegetables.
Gardening specialist Melody Francois says the children relish the opportunity to get their hands dirty while learning.
"The programme is all about helping them understand how a seed sprouts, how it grows, how to care for the surrounding soil, what healthy plants need to grow, and when to harvest them.
"Through these experiences, they learn not only to enjoy wholesome, healthy food but how to also save seeds for the next crop."
At North Loburn, a wide variety of seasonal vegetables and fruits are grown throughout the year.
"The children are involved in the entire process and also learn about composting, soil regeneration, and conservation," Ms Francois said.
According to kitchen specialist tutor Louisa Robinson, everything the children learnt while growing vegetables in the school’s gardens tied into their school curriculum.
"Everything they are doing directly relates to their maths, science, literacy and topic studies," she said.
"In these programmes, they learn about fractions, division, and multiples. They explore how plants grow, ecology, biology and science, as well as what makes the cuisine of different countries special."
This year, students are embarking on a global journey by creating meals inspired by the various countries and cultures represented by their classmates and their families.
After spending the morning in the garden, the fruit and vegetables harvested are turned into a lunch for the students and adults to sit down and enjoy together.
Principal, Kate Hassall said the Garden to Table and Paddock to Plate programmes were highly valued by the school community.
"The children love it and we love having our families, including our grandparents, involved with delivering this programme.
"We are very grateful to our whānau for supporting us to provide these programmes, and to our wider community for supporting our major fundraiser, the North Canterbury Kids Hunt, which contributes to the funding of our Garden to Table and Paddock to Plate programmes.
"We are also very grateful to Harris Meats, and Jade Fish Company for their support. Without this support we simply couldn’t offer these very valuable programmes"
