Schools
Nano Cottage Kitchen Garden and St Michael's Primary School - from little things big things grow...
On Wednesday 11 November, the school community of St Michael’s Primary, Blacktown South held a Blessing and Opening Ceremony to officially open the new Nano Cottage Kitchen Garden. St Michael’s Primary and Nagle College are located on the same site so they share the Nano Cottage Garden, which is named after Nano Nagle, the founder of the Presentation Sisters who established Nagle College. Nano Cottage was established in 2002 as a venue in which to conduct Nano Cottage Language Groups, a collaborative project of local primary and secondary school communities, St Michael’s parish and the Catholic Education Office. The cottage is a place where students with language learning needs can stimulate and enhance their oral language skills in a naturalistic environment. In the relaxed informal setting of the garden the students, ranging in age from Kindergarten to Year 5, feel more comfortable talking to each other and it encourages interaction 
between them. Clare Maloney, itinerant teacher: communication from the Catholic Education Office said the garden had already proven to be a significant tool in developing the talking and listening skills of students with oral language needs. ‘The students have become vigilant gardeners! They water, weed and harvest and they know how to save dry seeds from peas, marigolds and sunflowers, as well as planting garlic cloves and sprouting onions and potatoes,’ said Clare. ‘It is a joy to watch these children, and other willing students, shine as they participate in hands on activities as Nano ‘master chefs’ and ‘little diggers’ in the kitchen garden.’
St Anthony’s School, 