School captain Sara Smith and Member for MacKillop Nick McBride recently had the joint honour of officially declaring open the new kitchen and upgraded canteen at Millicent North Primary School.

The kitchen will be used by MNPS students to prepare the food sourced from their very own garden.

The lion’s share of the funding came from the Health and Education departments with donations also coming from local businesses.

Mr McBride has commended MNPS on the initiative.

“It was an honour to open this new facility thanks to funding through the Departments of Health and Education,” he said.

“I am sure the students/staff and volunteers will enjoy cooking – and eating the delicious food that comes out of this kitchen.”

The new classroom kitchen is a place where students and families can learn and develop skills to prepare safe and nutritious meals.

It contains workbenches with stove and sink set throughout the space for students and their families to prepare and cook food produce harvested from the school grounds as well as the local community.

Students and families will be taught the necessity of eating fresh, healthy food and the impact a nutritious diet will have on their general physical, emotional and mental health by their chef and the class teachers.

The Stephanie Alexander Foundation will contribute their expertise in the evaluation plan of pre and post data collection process.

They will also provide guidance through the process to ensure the MNPS kitchen is meeting the needs of students and their families.