Lyndhurst Secondary College

Lyndhurst Secondary College is a busy secondary college with 722 students, located in the suburb of Cranbourne in the outer southeast suburbs of Melbourne.   

The school focuses on empowering students for learning and life. With this in mind, when they were offered the opportunity to host the School Breakfast Clubs Program Cooking Classes, they grabbed that opportunity with confidence. 

The College invited students and their primary carers to attend the four week program, once a week. The Foodbank Victoria team came along with the equipment and ingredients, and the rest was up to the participants to get cooking. 

The food is great

One major benefit that the Lyndhurst Secondary College students found was learning how to cook simple meals, like pizza from scratch and rice paper rolls.  

Often these students don’t cook at home or like to try new foods. These classes taught them basic cooking skills for life, and when they made the food, they wanted to eat the food too. Trying new foods was good in the end! 

It’s the social life

Schools report that there is so much more to these Cooking Classes than the fabulous cooking skills the kids learn. Often the social side of things shines through.  

One of the participants brought their Primary Carer along, their grandparent. The grandparent was thrilled to have an opportunity to spend some bonding time with her grandchild, and to get some help with cooking in the evenings at home too.  

Another student came along with their Primary Carer who was a Government Mentor. The mentor liked the benefit of spending time with their student, and also getting to know the school staff better. 

Food hampers were essential

Each week the groups attending receive a full box of food, valued at $55 per box. These recipe boxes are filled with fresh ingredients (fruit, vegetables and herbs) as well as culturally diverse dry goods such as rice, olive oil, spices, noodles, nori and pita breads. 

Participants are encouraged to use the food to cook the recipes that they are learning in the classes.  

The families at Lyndhurst Secondary College found these hampers an incentive to attend the classes each week, and they also found that they provided enormous relief to their food shopping bills at the supermarkets.  

They would use the food to try the recipes, but also to add to their normal cooking ideas too. 

Testimonials from Lyndhurst Secondary College

“The impact of this program on our school community is so much more than feeding families and ensuring everyone has a full belly at school and at home.

This program has enabled us to establish and foster positive working partnerships between school and home. It has enabled students and their parents and carers to find common interests through cooking and instilling a culture where time between family members is shared and valued.

For us as a college, one of the greatest benefits was being able to see students continue their learning alongside their parent/carer/significant adult and to hear that this continues at home with new routines of cooking and enjoying a meal together.

Undoubtedly, this has also benefitted student engagement with school, connection to school and parent/carer involvement and trust with our college. We believe the work Foodbank has done with our college will have long term positive impact on the students and families involved both academically and socially.”

Eloise Haynes | Lyndhurst Secondary College Principal

“I like cooking and I enjoyed eating the food after because it was yum. The staff there were very nice.

We got to bring home big boxes of food to cook at home. This meant that we were able to cook different meals together and eat together as a family.

I would 100% go back and do this program again.”

Abbie W | Year 7 Student

A Breakfast Club teaching all the skills

Kilmore Primary School has 507 students and serves around 50 students breakfast four mornings a week at their School Breakfast Clubs Program. Richie and Mez run a tight ship, serving up steaming hot spaghetti, buttery toast, crunchy cereal, fresh fruit and more.

The Kilmore Primary School Breakfast Clubs Program has evolved over time. Richie listens to feedback from the students and makes changes for the better. One example is the way the food is served. The students requested to serve their own breakfast, which once initiated has had many positive side effects.

The students are spooning their own spaghetti and spreading vegemite on their buttered toast. The kids love the sense of responsibility that comes with this and there has been less waste as kids only take as much as they will eat.

Student leaders in the group are given responsibility overseeing the food distribution, which is providing them with valuable organisational and communication skills. An unexpected benefit is that the students are also washing up their own dishes. The school has a bucket with warm water and a brush on a table, where the dishes are rinsed and placed into another bucket. A student helper stays at the table to make sure that the process is followed, and then puts the dishes into the dishwasher for a final clean.

While we were visiting the school, two students came into the Breakfast Club to ask if they could help. The Helper positions and badges are sought after. These positions are provided to students who have displayed good behaviour, and they are also used as an incentive for good behaviour.

Another change that has been introduced is the move from many small tables to sit at, to two long tables. This change encouraged different age groups to sit with each other and mingle, with great outcomes.

A garden that delivers the goods

Mez is the fearless leader over the Kilmore Primary School Kitchen Garden. She used her green thumb to turn a patch of wild weeds into a productive vege patch providing food for the school hampers and much more. The kids are rewarded for good behaviour with a visit to the garden to pick peas and passionfruit. There were several watermelons that many kids had their eyes on!

A few lucky students are provided the opportunity to be the Garden Ambassadors. This is a sought after position, which is seen as a real reward for good behaviour and leadership in the school.

Testimonials from Kilmore Primary School

“Our Breakfast Club program has made a huge contribution to promoting the wellbeing and engagement of our students. In addition to providing students with a nutritious meal to ensure that they are fuelled for learning, it has also fostered social interaction and built friendships among students from different classes, enhancing their sense of belonging and community.”

Neil O’Sullivan | Principal

“The KPS Breakfast Club has gone from strength to strength. The staff who run the program are passionate about supporting all students and developing their independence and lifelong skills. The program has had a ripple effect across the school. The students at KPS start the day ready to learn as a result of having access to breakfast as well as providing healthy food choices throughout the day. The program then reaches the broader school community through our Random Acts of Kindness hampers. Thank you to Foodbank for their ongoing support of our school community.”

Julie Smith | Assistant Principal