Headwaters Learning Circle
Working together to support local food and food
education to Headwaters schools
About The Initiative
Working together to support local food and food education to Headwaters schools
The Headwaters Learning Circle represents a group of passionate individuals and organizations that hold equitable school food and food education in their heads and a desire to create something new and transformational in their hearts.
The term “learning circle” has Indigenous origins and it reflects the open, collaborative and community-led nature of this work which is grounded in local knowledge, traditions and culture. Nicole Hambleton the Learning Circle Coordinator conceptualizes the Headwaters Learning Circle as a way to fuse new connections, deepen relationships and strengthen our local school food network for the greatest good. Many of our current food systems, while full of good intentions have inadvertently deepened inequity, and have harmed our planet. She sees the LC as an opportunity to work towards building a new school food system that will harbour equality, unity and deep respect for people, place and planet.
Headwaters Food and Farming Alliance (HFFA) – a project of Headwaters Communities in Action (HCIA), a registered charity – was awarded an 18 month grant from Farm to Cafeteria Canada to gather Dufferin/Caledon school food centred community members and organizations to help build a more inclusive local school food system.
Overall, the Headwaters Learning Circle will allow us to:
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- Pause, listen and learn
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- Explore others’ experiences, knowledge, challenges and motivations
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- Include and engage broadly, by identifying a modest sized core group for the Learning Circle, plus an extended network of practitioners and champions who could support schools
so that we can:
- Include and engage broadly, by identifying a modest sized core group for the Learning Circle, plus an extended network of practitioners and champions who could support schools
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- Establish shared vision, values and goals
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- Identify assets, strengths and opportunities
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- Agree on a game plan and specific actions
in order to:
- Agree on a game plan and specific actions
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- Establish and strengthen connections among schools, families and community partners including food professionals and knowledge keepers
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- Build a collective network of “doors”, or players from all food system sectors who have a common understanding of the Farm to School environment, definitions and local assets, and can act as concierge for schools interested in Farm to School
Learning Circle members commit to meeting a minimum of 4 times over 18 months (December 2021 until March 31, 2023) and together are developing a vision and linked goals that will be implemented, assessed, and evolved over the course of the grant. The vision and goals will be determined by the multiple lenses of Learning Circle members with the goal to create a “greatest good” local , healthy school food system for Dufferin and Caledon.
Depending on the goals created by the Learning Circle, small sub-committees will be created to meet separately and work on smaller action items.
We have various food related community members committed to joining us such as farmers, food program coordinators, food security specialists, and many more.
For more information on the Learning Circle model, visit Farm to Cafeteria Canada
If you’re interested in joining the Headwaters Learning Circle journey please reach out to f2s@hffa.ca
Together our Learning Circle committed to the overarching goal of Strengthening Relationships which we subdivided into three groups:
Corn: Schools – education and equity. To see farm to school activities of some type in all headwaters schools by the end of 2025. This has been HFFA’s Big Fresh Goal since 2019.
Beans: Students – hands-on skills and connection to home. Offer real food experiences in the class – e.g. trips to farms, cooking classes, school and community gardens and so on.
Squash: Supporters – who is out there, develop the asset map. Determine which schools already have something in place and which schools have nothing. What are the barriers to F2S activities? What opportunities are available?
Who was Involved and Consulted?
The Headwaters Learning Circle met 5 times between December 2021 and May of 2023. Our meeting attendance varied but we had representation from the following:
- Community Organizations:
• Children’s Foundation of Guelph and Wellington – Food & Friends
• EcoSource
• Farm to Cafeteria Canada
• Headwaters Communities in Action
• Orangeville Food Bank
• Our Food Future
• Polycultural Immigrant and Community Services
• Westminster United Church
- Educators
- School Board Representatives
- Parents
- Elders
- Farmers
• Fiddle Foot Farm
• Bennington Hills Farm
• Kidd Family Farm
• Albion Hills Community Farm - Gardeners
- True Nature Video
Successes of the Learning Circle
Using our goal ingredients of corn, beans and squash we created a yummy pilot project soup known as Community Connectors Consommé
Community Connectors (CC) are people who live in our community and have unique farm to school knowledge. They help facilitate, engage, and strengthen connections between schools and the broader local food ecosystem. This includes promoting healthy local food in schools, enhancing student food literacy, fostering hands-on learning opportunities connected to curriculum, adding schools to the national school food map, and supporting a school’s unique food journey. F2S options are endless and can be as simple as hosting a “Kale Day” or as complex as applying for a Farm to Cafeteria Canada Salad Bar grant.
Learning Circle member organization Food & Friends was so inspired by the CC concept that they sponsored a CC position from November until June.
Some of accomplishments of Community Connectors include:
- Reached out to 16 area schools to share about the CC program
- Supported 4 applications for Whole Kids Foundation garden grants
- Established indoor growing stations in 3 schools
- Presented information on Farm to School activities at parent council meetings at 2 schools
- 1230 apples delivered to 3 schools for the Great Big Crunch
- Delivered a 6 week whole foods cooking program at Princess Margaret Public School (You’re the Chef is a program of WDG Public Health)
- Supported the start of a You’re the Chef program at Spencer Avenue Public School
- Garden water totes (1,000L) ordered for 2 schools
- Established school discount at 10&10 Garden Centre for plants and soil
- CC program shared at Food & Friends coordinators meeting
- Veg Trugs delivered to Centennial Hylands Elementary School and Centennial Hylands YMCA Child Care Centre
- HFFA education workshops at Primrose and Parkinson Centennial Elementary Schools
- Supported registration for the Fresh From The Farm fundraiser
- Supported the re-establishment of a school salad bar
- Added 9 new schools to the F2CC School Food Map
Program Gratitude
“One of my successes has been the collaboration between Food & Friends and the CC program. I’ve been able to share the names of Dufferin principals and contact information along with information about student nutrition programs with the CC team.”
– Heather – Community Connector
“Your team was so knowledgeable and answered the children’s questions so thoughtfully. That type of hands-on learning is so valuable for our students, and we can’t thank you enough.”
– Kindergarten Teacher
“Building relationships was the key to success along with bringing resources to the table: time/effort to help with grant writing, physical resources like sprouting trays etc.”
– Betty – Community Connector
“I liked eating the food and learning that all peppers start out green!”
– You’re the Chef Participant
“This was the most engaging workshop for students. It was hands on, interesting, relevant and inspiring. I was so impressed with the knowledge of the presenters and their passion for environmental issues, local farming and sustainability. It was important for students to hear these messages from the front line. The farmers were able to answer questions that I may not have been able to answer.
– Sarah Chambers, FDK
Looking to the Future
Since the completion of the Learning Circle grant, Community Connectors have kept momentum going. We facilitated another education workshop this week and summer watering and maintenance plans for school gardens are being established.
In the future we would like to see this program expand. Having more Connectors to reach more schools would hugely benefit our region. The rebuilding process post-pandemic has been slow with most schools requiring support to facilitate any food-based curricular or extracurricular activities. Community Connectors provided helping hands to ignite, facilitate, and promote the importance of food literacy and food based programs in schools. The CC program also allowed us as a circle member and community organization to reconnect with schools after Covid.
The Headwaters Learning Circle would not have been possible without the guidance and financial support received from Farm to Cafeteria Canada and the backbone support of Headwaters Communities in Action. For these foundational partnerships we are extremely thankful.
We would like to express our gratitude for the land that holds us, the people who came before us, the food that nourishes us, the community members who cheer us on, and the children who make our hearts sing. May we continue to weave a stronger and kinder community together.
The Headwaters Learning Circle Vision:
All students have opportunities to experience, learn about, celebrate and be nourished by local food; and all schools in our community have access to inclusive, equitable and collaborative school food ecosystem.
Supporters
We are funded by a Farm to Caferteria Canada Learning Circle grant which runs from September 2021 until March 31, 2023
CONTACT: f2s@hffa.ca