Co. Waterford-based organisation Grow It Yourself (GIY) has launched a fund that aims to raise €3.2 million to support the running of a food education programme in primary schools around the country.
The GROW At School programme aims to see the construction of a garden in every primary school in Ireland, where students can grow food and reconnect with nature.
The organisation is aiming to deliver the programme to about 50% of primary schools by 2024, and 100% by 2030. Achieving this goal would see 250,000 children gain access to a school garden or classroom growing kit in the period 2022 to 2024.
If this target was reached, almost 7,500 teachers would be providing garden-based learning in 1,600 Irish schools.
The announcement of the fund comes as the organisation completed a four-year pilot programme which created raised garden beds and provided a year’s worth of seeds to 32 schools around the country.
Run in conjunction with the Community Foundation for Ireland, the programme received positive feedback from both students and teachers, who noted that they found it to be “a useful teaching tool across most subjects of the curriculum”.
Following the pilot’s success, GIY founder Michael Kelly is set to meet with the Oireachtas Committee on Education in September to discuss submissions on mental health and tertiary education, and the recommendation of food growing in primary schools.
Speaking about GIY’s ambitions to deliver the programme, Kelly said:
“The success and the learning from the pilot programme over the last four years speaks for itself and the programme is now ready for scale nationally.
“To date, GIY has secured philanthropic and voluntary funds in excess of €500,000 committed to the GROW At School Programme. Departmental funding could provide match funding to deliver the programme’s ambitions.”
Kelly added that achieving the goals of the programme would enable students to behave sustainably both at school and at home, and it would also educate them on healthy food choices.
Minister for Mental Health and Older People Mary Butler welcomed the initiative and said:
“This programme establishes knowledge and behaviours from a very early age to make healthier food choices, and it will help to reduce food waste.
“Young people are leading the way across the world in the areas of climate and environmental stability.
“What I love about the Grow At School project is that it promotes a sense of belonging and community as everyone feels included in the garden and it will have a really positive impact on mental health.
“People might ask how you link mental health and gardens and growing your own food. From my own perspective in my own downtime on a Sunday morning, a favourite thing to do is to spend time working in the garden; it is beneficial for our mental health,” she finished.