What We Do
Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation and The Nest
The Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation is dedicated to nurturing children's wellbeing through hands-on learning about food, gardening, and healthy eating. By integrating practical kitchen and garden skills into school curriculums, the Foundation supports The Nest's holistic approach to child development.
The holistic approach of the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program delivers significant wellbeing benefits to children and young people. Evaluations of the Program demonstrate impact in all six domains of the Nest, Australia’s wellbeing framework for children and young people.
Valued, Loved and Safe
The Program model has been shown to support an engaged, whole-school approach to the wellbeing of the students and the environment. Students developing better relationships with teachers and other adults in addition to their peers was also demonstrated.
Material Basics
The Program enables opportunities for trying and enjoying new (healthy) foods. School gardens increase time spent in nature, with gardens seen as places of beauty for both play and quiet contemplation.
Healthy
Strong evidence was found for significant improvements in students’ food choices and
kitchen lifestyle behaviours as a result of participation in the Program.
Learning
The Program facilitates creation of a ‘learning community’ and is particularly effective at engaging ‘reluctant classroom learners’ and children with challenging behaviours.
Students find the experiential activities of the Program a positive context for learning
across subject areas.
Participating
The Program provides support for students at risk of social exclusion, including students from different socio-cultural groups, through hands-on practical activities that enable students with differing abilities to participate in an equal manner.
Identity and Culture
Growing, cooking and sharing foods from different cultures introduces students to cultural diversity in a positive way and helps students and parents who may otherwise be at risk of social exclusion due to cultural background be included in school activities.
WHAT WE DO
Looking for more?
Search through our extensive Resource Library including Research papers, Submissions, Reports and much more.
What else we do
Right@home
right@home is a relationship-based nurse home visiting program for Australian families, delivered by trained professionals within the universal health service. It empowers parents to create a safe, nurturing environment that supports early child development.
Early Years Strategy
The Australian Government’s Early Years Strategy, developed with input from ARACY, outlines a vision to support children and families by prioritising child-centered policies and targeted investment in early years services over the next 10 years, recognising the crucial role early development plays in lifelong success.
Established in 2006, ARACY’s Longitudinal Studies Collaborative (LSC) fosters collaboration between Australian and New Zealand studies focused on children and youth. The LSC promotes data sharing, supports new and ongoing studies, advocates for longitudinal research, and disseminates findings to a broad audience.
Maximising the Middle
‘Maximising the Middle’ is a unique initiative based in Campbelltown and Penrith that aims to see middle years children and young people (MYC&YP), aged 8-14 years, thrive. It is a collaborative project initiated by Uniting NSW.ACT, ARACY and the Stronger Smarter Institute (SSI).
ARACY's The Nest
What's in The Nest?
With six connected areas, The Nest ensures young Australians have everything they need for the best start in life, helping them reach their highest potential.
Our Nest projects
Using The Nest, has helped ARACY to be at the forefront of disease prevention and the promotion of holistic health for young Australians.
The Nest initiatives
Here you’ll see some examples of how The Nest has been used in organisations outside of ARACY across Australia.
