GIY launch fund to raise €3.2 million in support of ambitious GROW At School programme

GIY has launched a fund to support their food education programme GROW At School.  The ambition is to see every primary school in Ireland with a garden that can be used for learning how to grow food, exploration, and reconnection with nature.

The organisation has just completed a four-year pilot programme, which provided 32 schools across the country with raised garden beds and seeds for an entire school year’s worth of food growing.  The pilot programme was backed by The Community Foundation for Ireland and the evaluation report for the pilot programme outlines its huge success.

Teachers declared that they found the garden to be a useful teaching tool across most subjects of the curriculum and that it also allowed them to get closer to the pupils and learn more about them in an informal setting.

The pupil’s 
evaluation was measured on reaction, learning, behaviour and results. Their reactions included excitement and fascination and it was noted that the sensory reaction was important for some.  Teachers said “You should see the smiles on their faces when in the garden. 2 pupils with sensory needs loved the feel of compost – soft & light going through their fingers” 

In terms of learning, the garden was useful as a teaching resource and provided opportunities to link with science, maths, English, geography, history and sustainability. 
Children also learned from their mistakes and that it was ok to get it wrong and try again importantly, they learned about food, seasonality and that non-processed is better for their health. In terms of behavioural changes, children noted that they wanted to try new foods and the foods that they had grown. Teachers also noted 
that pupils behaved more calmly in the garden 
and that children were more open to conversation, “they talk about everything out in the garden”.

Higher-level impacts on pupils were noted by the teachers on a number of different levels which included inclusivity, well-being, confidence and social skills.

By 2024 GIY aim to deliver GROW At School to approximately 50% of Primary schools in Ireland, with the aim to support food growing in all schools in Ireland by 2030. In the period 2022 to 2024, the ambition is to see 1,600 schools with their own gardens with 1⁄4 Million school children with access to a school garden or classroom growing kit and 7,460 estimated teachers empowered to provide garden-based learning.

On the back of the completion of the pilot programme evaluation report in June 2022 GIY provided a submission to the Oireachtas Committee on Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science for the provision of school gardens and support of food growing in Primary Schools nationwide. The submission was presented in order to recommend the implementation of food growing in primary schools in Ireland. Founder of GIY Michael Kelly will be meeting with the committee in September of this year to discuss the details of the submission and how it could potentially be implemented.  Speaking about their ambitions and delivering GROW At School Michael Kelly says,

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. 

The implementation of GROW At School as a national food education & garden-based learning programme would lay the foundations for food system understanding, support sustainable behaviour at school & at home & take a ‘Shared Future’ approach by educating and informing students about food at Primary level thereby providing a baseline knowledge for subjects such as the Climate Action and Sustainable Development subject introduced to the Secondary school curriculum in 2021.” 

For further details on GIY and GROW At School see, https://giy.ie/programmes/grow-at-school/

ABOUT GIY 

GIY are a leading social enterprise supporting people, schools &
communities around the world to live healthier, happier and more sustainable lives by growing some of their own food. In 2021, 1.2 million people engaged in food growing with GIY. Our mission is a movement of 100 million people growing some of their own food by 2030.

GIY has supported food growing in schools across Ireland and the UK since 2014, through a classroom-based food growing programme called The Big Grow, a collaborative community/school-based programme called Community Classrooms, and GROW At School, a school garden programme piloted with 32 schools over the last 3 years (2019-2022). Over 1 million primary school children have taken part in these GIY food education programmes. In 2021 alone, over 5,000 schools took part in the Big Grow Ireland and the UK (including engagement with 55% of Irish primary schools).

GIY has proven capability in delivering national food growing programmes at scale, including under public sector remit as demonstrated through the GROW It Forward programme in 2021.

About the GROW At School PROGRAMME: 

At GIY, we envision a world where all food is produced, distributed and consumed in a manner that is healthy for our planet and its people. The most effective way to achieve this vision is by engaging with our young citizens—our future agents of change. Integrating food literacy and fostering food empathy through the primary curriculum ensures that we reach children at crucial development stages that can influence long-term behaviour change. And long-term change is exactly what we need to build a sustainable future and a better world.

GROW AT School is a garden-based food education programme. It is designed to provide food system knowledge & understanding across all primary school cohorts, supported via curriculum-based content & expertise and a teacher training program. It is designed to equip teachers with the tools & expertise to establish food growing as a catalyst for healthier, more sustainable food choices for students and their families.

Participating schools receive standardized vegetable garden kits, consisting of four raised beds, soil, fertiliser, and a variety of seeds for planting throughout the school year. Supporting resources are provided, including a School Garden Plan designed for growing within the academic year, limiting maintenance over the summer months. Teachers receive learning resources, linking activities in the garden to areas of the curriculum, as well as monthly newsletters highlighting garden tips and tricks.

The GROW At School Programme supports the vision of the National Council for Curriculum & Assessment (NCCA):

The curriculum aims to provide a strong foundation for every child to thrive and flourish, supporting them in realising their full potential as individuals and as members of communities and society during childhood and into the future. Building on their previous experiences, the curriculum views children as unique, capable and caring individuals, and teachers as committed, skilful and agentic2 professionals. It supports high-quality teaching, learning and assessment that is inclusive and evidence-based supporting each child to make progress in all areas of their learning and development” (NCCA, 2020)

 

GET IN TOUCH

For more information on how you can support GIY and the GROW At School Programme, please contact our Head of Philanthropy, Seánie Comerford: