Programs > School Based > Winchester PS

Winchester PS

Winchester School Community Garden is Green Thumbs Growing Kids’ flagship school food garden. Without the opportunity to develop the project at Winchester, we’d be stuck at the “great ideas” stage.

Winchester Junior and Senior Public School, located in the St. Jamestown/Cabbagetown area of downtown Toronto, is one of the highest-need schools in the Toronto District School Board, based on indicators such as family income, status and length of time in Canada, etc. Many Winchester families live in high-rise buildings or apartments.

An 11,000 square foot area on the school grounds once held portable classrooms when enrolment was high. The portables were removed in 1999, and the area sodded. A local resident (Melissa Mihalcheon, founder of Marcy’s Salad Dressings) mobilized resources to embark on a learning garden and worked with the School Board to install a naturalized garden. An area of about 200 square feet was left open for a vegetable garden.

Sunday Harrison, founder of Green Thumbs Growing Kids, also a neighbourhood resident and parent at Winchester School, activated the vegetable garden with support from Canadian Feed the Children in 2000. Green Thumbs initiated a composting program at the school, enlisting the support of school staff and families to begin soil improvement using local kitchen waste.

Vegetable and fruit production began in 2002. The garden has been improving every year, with an ever-larger area under cultivation for peas, beans, tomatoes, potatoes, salad greens, herbs, etc. Garden beds now occupy over 500 square feet. Produce from the garden is delivered to students through the Hot Lunch program, which includes a fresh Salad Bar, two days per week. In 2006, 300 pounds of food were produced and distributed from the Winchester School Community Garden.

Students perform all possible garden activities, planting and harvesting both formally as part of class time with specific curriculum objectives, and informally through the Garden Club, which operates one or two days per week throughout the school year during lunch recess.

Planting is designed to produce maximum production in spring and fall, however, summer programs in the school garden are also offered for local children and families through Green Thumbs Growing Kids, who hooks up with other local agencies. This keeps the garden maintained and the produce flowing to local families in need throughout summer. Youth groups are also encouraged to visit the garden to learn basic horticultural skills.

In 2007/08 school year, Winchester will be a TDSB EcoSchool and will use the garden and composting projects to engage a student-led Ecoteam.

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Content last modified on July 03, 2008, at 04:24 PM EST