OUR CHILDREN'S GARDEN
SPROUTING SEEDS
Centre Director Paulee Wang firmly believes in the values of urban gardening and she has taken this project forward through a collaboration with passionate, like-minded environmental enthusiasts to build a purposeful and child-friendly, sustainable organic edible garden in Kebun-Kebun Bangsar – an urban garden and community park located in Bangsar.
Our children’s garden is designed to house a variety of vegetables, herbs, fruiting trees and a fragrant garden, where play based learning will take place – resonating with the core essence of our brands Julia Gabriel Centre and Chiltern House Preschool. Sprouting Seeds remains a work in progress as we are roping in parents as partners, and the children to help establish and grow the garden through monthly gardening events.
The first ever volunteering opportunity took place on 26th May 2018 and we successfully planted seedlings and cuttings into the vegetable beds. Subsequent volunteering opportunities followed and our little piece of paradise on Earth began growing beautifully to house a wider variety of plants including ylang-ylang, a pumpkin patch, pearl barley, rosella and even butterfly pea flowers – all of which form part of our garden’s essentials for sensory play. And thanks to external community service initiatives, we now have a charming wooden platform built by volunteers to benefit the garden visitors and a beautiful pond.
As of June 2023, Sprouting Seeds Children’s Garden has been given a new breath of life post-pandemic and is now housed within the school compound, highly accessible to our children during curriculum hours. Our growing garden community now comes together regularly to contribute and work towards the continuous and sustainable growth of the garden.
For more updates on Sprouting Seeds, follow us on our Instagram @JuliaGabrielKL.
THE NAME: SPROUTING SEEDS
William Shakespeare once questioned, “What’s in a name?”.
The name Sprouting Seeds was selected after winning the popular vote with submissions received from parents, children and staff, with credits to Hurin Shukor, the brains behind the name.
So we asked her how the name came about. “When the school announced that we will be growing an edible play garden, it was such an exciting piece of news. Imagine an outdoor classroom, learning in nature! So when nomination was open to all staff and our parents to name the garden, Sprouting Seeds immediately came to mind. When I think about seeds, I think about them sprouting! And I’d also learned in naming, it’s always a good idea to make it sound similar, in that both parts of the name begin with the letter ‘s’. And that was it, Sprouting Seeds was my submission and the school did a round of voting, and next I knew, it won the popular vote!”
“It’s going to be quite cool seeing that name in the garden,” – Hurin.
MORE ON THE GARDEN
Through a collective effort by a team of highly supportive parents who were instrumental in coming together to help the school's team rebuild Sprouting Seeds, we now have our new children's garden successfully housed at the school's compound in Bangsar as of June 2023.
Sprouting Seeds Children's Garden now boasts of organically grown vegetables such as the purple okra and eggplant, and fragrant herbs such as basil, mint and lemon balm, and is also home to beautiful flowers such as the demure Japanese Rose and the cheery sunflower. The harvest has been bountiful with the constant shower of love and care from the children as classes take turns caring for the plants, and for the Kindergarten children, researching into the science behind plant's growth and understanding the life cycle of plants from seed to fruit.
Beginning 2024, our new Give and Grow Programme will formally be introduced as part of the Julia Gabriel Preschool's curriculum, where lessons will focus on Sustainability and Gardening across all levels using Sprouting Seeds. The children will experience nature, learn more about the world around them and will be better prepared to make positive choices and contribute to a more sustainable future for all.
