Little Nena-Rose knows how to plant peas, she knows why it’s important to water our gardens, and she knows that eating vegetables is good for her. 

Nena-Rose is one of the children attending Aoga Amata Preschool, a Pacific Island-based centre on the edge of Invercargill, in the suburb of Clifton. 

Covid-19 hit the preschool hard, causing the number of children attending the preschool each day to plummet.  

However, Covid-19 response funding from the New Zealand government has helped the preschool find a way to combine building educational opportunities with supporting the community. 

Teacher Leann Harper said the preschool was looking for a way to support its community and, as food is one of the major costs for families, the garden was a great option. 

“Food is one of those big costs for families, so we thought this was a way to support them.” 

The children had been involved in the creation of the garden at every stage, from layout, through to planting and nurturing. 

“It’s for the kids. It’s life skills for our kids, skills that we can give them to take as they leave us (to attend school).” 

Feedback from families had been extremely positive, she said. 

“The families are loving that the kids are excited about it.” 

The garden is being built on a section beside the kindergarten, with help from Rebecca Perez, the garden project lead at Aparima College, other members of the South Coast Environment Centre, and parents and caregivers of children attending the preschool. 

New World Elles Road had also donated boxes of Little Garden seeds, while Mitre 10 Mega donated hinges and latches to create a gate through to the garden from the preschool to allow easy and safe access for the children and also perspex panels to create windows in the fence for the children to view the garden. 

Teacher Maele Seau said the initiative had been a huge learning curve but it had opened up many doors into the community. 

“The project has been an awesome learning curve for our children, our teachers, and our community, and has also opened up doorways to network out into the wider community to help our families, in the hope that in the future when all our fruit and veggies do blossom, we can can give them to our families here at the centre and hopefully it will help with reducing living and grocery costs.” 

She also hoped the initiative would encourage staff at other early childhood centres to do something similar in their own centres. 

“We encourage you to make a change for your centre, for your school, and for your children, and our future.” 

Article added: Friday 27 November 2020