A group of Braybrook students is taking part in a pilot project to provide food for the disadvantaged as part of their school curriculum.
Almost 20, year 10 VCAL students from Caroline Chisholm Catholic College are involved in the 10-week Garden Collective project which aims to grow and harvest leafy greens and vegetables for the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre which has a base in neighbouring Footscray.
The school’s faith and mission director, Bernard Green, said the project focused on social justice and educating students about food security, and those most at risk of not having reliable access to affordable and nutritious food such as refugees and asylum seekers.
“This is a multi-faceted project that will integrate literacy and numeracy with pressing social justice issues that include Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers, respect for the environment and the level of disadvantage in our wider community,” Mr Green said.
“The program will develop student awareness of social justice issues and will be formative assessment [reflective] rather than summative [graded],” he said.
“It has already made them aware the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre is in the next suburb.”
Mr Green said the school planned to integrate the preliminary project – which ends in December – into its future curriculum
