Horotiu School took the Enviroschools Maara Kai Challenge to the next level this year, turning up the heat and running their own ‘whole school’ event enabling about 120 students to take part. Teachers Alex Wakeman and Antonia Whittaker had supported teams of 4 at the Enviroschools inter-school challenge in 2022 and 2023 and wanted more students to have the opportunity of planning, preparing and presenting meals.
Careful preparation.
Simply delicious!
Well organised.
While the thought of having this number of children chopping up fruit and vegetables and cooking might have you sweating, it worked, they had fun, the food tasted great, and there was wonderful creativity and learning on show along with immense pride shown from all the cooks.
Alex and Antonia shared the Enviroschools Maara Kai Challenge concept at a staff meeting in Term 1, modifying the resources slightly for their school. Three hubs; Koromiko (Years 1-2), Harakeke (Years 3-4) and Manuka (Years 7-8), decided to take up the challenge. Within the hubs, groups of 4-5 students had to create one dish within the categories of salads, smoothies, baking or eggs. Groups had to come up with a simple recipe that would make the most of produce that came either from home gardens or the school gardens.
Explaining the nutritional aspects of the kai.
After working out what they could create some of the teams spent time practicing their recipes at home, while others were giving it a go for the first time on the day. The year 7 and 8 students also had to research and write about the nutritional value of the dishes they were making. Although cooking facilities were limited, everyone made the best of it. The hubs had one oven each to share, and groups also made use of the kitchen in the staff room and school hall. Blenders were on hand for the smoothies and knife skills were put to the test for making salads.
Lockie and Gus from Harakeke said they’d be making their smoothie again at home and described it as “mouthwatering and yum”. With ingredients that included feijoa, banana, cabbage, lime and orange it was healthy and full of flavour!
Year 1 and 2 Teacher Jamie reflected on the process. “It’s been really cool, actually. I do a lot of baking at home, so I loved this! It was so good for kids -good measurement, hands-on, and fine motor skills. It was a really good chance to let them have those opportunities and experiences.”
The categories helped to keep things simple and the juniors decided on making quiche and muffins. The muffins had zucchini from the school gardens and parents were asked what they had in their gardens or freezer to supplement this and contributing to the quiche. For these younger students it was about the idea of cooking and giving it a go and this will be built on next year.
The vision of great food.
Thoughtful presentation
A magical muffin mixture.
Jamie worked with 4 groups of 4-5 students and 2 parent helpers in the school hall kitchen using the oven to make quiche and muffins while her co-teacher Sonia had a similar group in the classroom using just a blender and cutting boards to make smoothies and salads.
“They loved cooking and being in the kitchen. Next year we will give families a bit more notice about what they can grow to support the idea.” – Jamie
Once completed, the teams of students plated their food – some quite elaborately – and took it over to the principal’s office where Principal, Jo Wright and Deputy, Karen Purdy tasted and judged all 27 dishes! Using a matrix of criteria, dishes were judged based on the number of items in the meal from the home or school gardens, appearance, taste and presentation. The nerves and pride was palpable! Wisely, the judges only used teaspoons to take a portion to taste, so the students got to enjoy their dishes for lunch.
Adding the secret ingredient.
Testing time.
While having a whole school Maara Kai challenge was initially daunting, Horotiu School made it fun, engaging and empowering for the students.
Tasty offerings.
The cooks explain the process and share the recipe.