A record number of schools and kindergartens took up the offer of a free excursion at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show.

Over the three school days (Wednesday to Friday) 1400 students from 39 kindergartens, primary and secondary schools visited the show to view the gardens and part take in the various activities throughout the show.

The Victorian Schools Garden Program marquee was very busy with children potting lettuce varieties with the help of the amazing Royal Botanic Garden Melbourne volunteers. While the Rotarian for Bees educated attendees on the importance of pollinators and Urban Plant Health Network taught visitors how to spot and identify pests in the garden.

The observation beehive provided by the Wheen Bee Foundation was a huge hit with children. They provided a fascinating insight on the workings of a hive.

A big thank you to our planting activity sponsors:

• Takasho – for the VegTrugs where all the planting took place. Apply for the Takasho VegTrug Package Grant to win your own.
• Grow Better – for providing the Premium Potting Mix 
• Quality Plants and Seedlings –  for donating the 3400 lettuce seedling varieties. Apply for the Quality Plant & Seedling – Spring Seedling Package Grant.
• PP5 – for the supply of the recyclable plant pots

On the 1st of March the VSGP’s Grants and Awards programs were launched and are now open for entries.

The two programs will distribute a combined $80,000 worth of vouchers and products to Victorian schools this year .

For more information on the categories and prizes in each program please visit the VSGP website.

The Victorian Schools Garden Program would like to thank our 2022 sponsors, as we couldn’t continue to provide schools with grants and award prizes if it wasn’t for their support.

The 44th annual Victorian Schools Garden Awards Ceremony premiered on Thursday 2 December 2021.  VSGP advocate Costa Georgiadis hosted the virtual ceremony and announced the winners with Deputy Premier and Minister for Education, James Merlino, congratulating schools, teachers, and students on their achievements in what’s been a very challenging year.

Mother of God School in Ardeer took out the top prize, the Kevin
Heinze Perpetual Award in the 2021 Victorian Schools Garden Awards. The small school of 139 culturally diverse students, incorporates outdoor learning and garden projects into their curriculum with learning gardens next to their classrooms.

Students are involved in every phase of the gardening works, from concept, to design and implementation. The school staff have observed that this approach provides a sense of belonging for the students, as indeed does the community garden for the broader local community.  The other state Awards winners, Camberwell South Primary School and Parade College, also boast garden programs that endorse community engagement and improve student learning outcomes, with meaningful hands-on learning opportunities in their gardens.

The VSGP applauds all schools that give their students the opportunity to engage in learning activities which are incorporate school gardens. We’re passionate about encouraging all schools to view their external environments as interesting and engaging additional classroom spaces to be utilise and to get involved in VSGP’s 2022 Grant and Award Programs.

We would like to thank the Victorian Schools Garden Program’s wonderful sponsors who recognise the benefit of involving students in outdoor learning, we greatly appreciate your support and contributions to the program.

Click here to view the 2021 VSGP Award Ceremony or a full list of all 2021 VSGP Awards results.

On Thursday 2 December at 11am, VSGP will hold our 44th Annual Victorian Schools Garden Awards Ceremony.

The Ceremony which is normally held at Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens, will be held virtually.

VSGP advocate Costa Georgiadis will be hosting the event, recognising the amazing achievements of students and communities in their school gardens, and announcing this year’s Victorian Schools Garden Awards winners.

All participating schools will be sent a link to attend the ceremony on the day, it will also be made available on this website in the Awards home page.

With our Award entries now closed, the VSGP committee has been busy judging the 83 entries.

The committee have been extremely impressed by the number, and standard, of entries. And their achievements are made all the more impressive given the ongoing challenges of COVID restrictions and home-schooling.

The 44th Annual Victorian Schools Garden Award results will be announced on Thursday 2nd December at our Virtual Awards Ceremony. The results, and ceremony, will be published on our website.

We’ll provide an update about how you can attend our Virtual Awards Ceremony when we have more details.

Here’s last year’s Kevin Heinze Perpetual Award winners, Our Lady Star of the Sea Primary School, Ocean Grove, celebrating their win. Who will be this year’s winner?