In the GemüseAckerdemie, children learn where the food on our plates comes from – on the school’s own farmland, together with their teachers.
The Acker e. V. association supports the Bodelschwingh School with a tried-and-tested educational program for cultivation planning in the school garden.
From the school’s point of view, this is of particular importance: more than other areas of the school, it provides vivid support for a wide range of teaching content in various subjects, especially in science lessons, in work lessons but also in interdisciplinary lessons, e.g. in home economics when processing the harvest.
It also realistically illustrates the possibility of working in this field after school.

The Acker e. V. association supports the school in setting up the school garden under professional guidance.
In training courses, teachers are shown everything they need to know about gardening, without any prior knowledge.

They are also provided with teaching materials, a weekly newsletter and a learning platform.
This means they always know what to do and can quickly get personal advice if they have any questions.

In spring, everything revolves around preparing the garden.
Teachers attend training courses and pupils discuss the topic of vegetable growing in class.
In the meantime, the association provides support by ordering the seeds and plants.
The children plant, tend and harvest their vegetables during the main planting season from April to October.
The children and young people drill holes in the soil, plant young plants and seeds or bulbs, which later grow into kohlrabi, carrots and parsnips, for example.
For the children, it’s something completely different to see the

later harvest vegetables themselves and not buy them.
They are also unfamiliar with many varieties and thus learn what types of vegetables there are and what significance they have for nutrition and health.
Afterwards, the pupils and teachers are fit enough to carry out the school garden project on their own responsibility.
The GemüseAckerdemie gets the pupils excited about sustainability and healthy eating.
The Karl Bröcker Foundation supports the school financially with the program, through which the school’s children and young people learn about nutrition, knowledge, health and appreciation in a practical and enjoyable way.

www.bodelschwinghschule-soest.de

Image source: Bodelschwingh School Soest