Weston School has built a kitchen classroom to allow its year 7 and 8 pupils to begin food technology classes.
The classroom has been operating since term two this year, but the school officially opened it in November.
Food technology teacher Erina Simpson said it had been an amazing asset so far.
"The kids are loving it, a lot of them have said it’s a really good [subject]."
Before the kitchen, Weston pupils went off-site for food technology classes.
"It’s amazing just having it on site. Our children [previously] hopped on a bus and left the premises. Now we get to keep them here."
It was crucial for school-aged children to learn the basics of how to cook meals for themselves, Mrs Simpson said.
"Some have some very good skills and some don’t have a lot of skills, so it’s just trying to really help them with those basics.
"Even starting with washing the dishes — a lot of people have dishwashers at home so they’re learning those skills."
It had also been an opportunity to teach their pupils about healthy eating.
The school had brought in Mel Smith, of Melissa Smith Total Well, being to assist with that.
"She’s come in each term and talked to each group about what your body needs.
"That’s been really good for the kids, it’s been quite an eye-opener for them. There’s a lot of stuff they didn’t know about."
The classroom is located directly next to the school’s vegetable garden and fruit trees.
Mrs Simpson, who is also the school’s enviro-schools lead, said it was important for pupils to understand growing and preparing their own food in a holistic way.
"In the first rotation for [food] tech this year, we harvested a whole pile of apples from the garden and we used them for our apple shortcake we were making.
"When we were doing nachos, we were getting carrots from the garden and the parsley and the chives and things like that."
She was also excited to see how the use of the new classroom and the gardens could evolve in the future.
"It’s definitely going to tie in more next year, but this was our first year of getting into the routine of it.
"It’ll be great to see where we can keep going with it."
