Ipswich Sustainable Education

ISE is impacting four public schools and over 1,850 K-12 students through innovative and rigorous hands-on sustainable education in the classroom, cafeteria and community.

A PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN IPSWICH SCHOOLS AND THE GREATER COMMUNITY THAT EMPOWERS EVERY MEMBER TO ENRICH THEIR LIVES BY TASTING, FEELING, AND EXPERIENCING OUR LOCAL AGRICULTURE.

Generation Growers

“Generation Growers” is an exciting new program. At the IHS entrance, we’re building a new public fruit and vegetable garden with a special focus: to bridge generations and lifestyles. The effort seeks to bring the older adults in our community together with our youth by encouraging them to work together on the challenges and rewards of a common garden. Stay tuned for updates on this project!

COMMUNITY

SPRING 2015 - Best Chef Series Launched

SUMMER 2015 – Vegetables first harvested from school gardens

MARCH 2016 – Ipswich School District included in North Shore magazine

SPRING 2016 – Middle School Green Team and High School Environmental Club

2015-2017 – Farm-to-School after school programs

CAFETERIA

SPRING 2015 - Cafeterias start incorporating vegetables from school gardens

SUMMER 2015 – Food service director hired

FALL 2015 – First annual Apple Crunch Day

FALL 2015 – Tour of school gardens and "Best Chef"
smoothie day

2015-2017 – Farm-to-School harvest on lunch menus

CLASSROOM

SUMMER 2015 – 4th grade teachers attend 2-day professional development course on sustainable education

FALL 2015 – Harvesting and cooking from school gardens begins

SPRING 2016 – Change is Simple environmental education begins for grades 4, 5, and 6.

School Gardens

Environmental awareness starts with spending time outdoors, understanding how plants grow, and experiencing weather and the change of seasons. ISE has partnered with each school to develop onsite gardens that children help tend and harvest. School gardens have been shown to foster excitement among children and a sense of wonder that something they helped plant can become delicious food. The gardens are also places of respite for the kids outside the confines of the school building.