What happens when a school community rolls up its sleeves, digs into the dirt, and decides to grow something together? At St. Augustine School, it sparked a year-long journey of learning, sustainability, and connection. Growing Together, a vibrant school-wide initiative, transformed classrooms into greenhouses, students into biologists, and learning into something students could hold in their hands and plant in the ground.
Inspired by Mayor Mark Sutcliffe's challenge to plant one million trees across the city, the project invited students from Kindergarten through Grade 6 to explore the natural world around them in hands-on, meaningful ways. Along the way, they discovered not just how plants grow but how they, too, can grow into responsible citizens, curious learners, and thoughtful caretakers of the Earth.
Sowing the First Steps
The project began with students exploring the school grounds and a nearby park to collect seeds. After sorting and drying them, each class received a hands-on lesson about how seeds grow. They learned that many tree seeds need a special process called stratification a period of cold, moist conditions that mimics winter to help them get ready to sprout. This natural "resting time" helps the seeds begin the growing process, known as germination.
Every student planted at least one seed, and the containers were stored in a chilly environment affectionately nicknamed "The Old Milk Fridge" to recreate those winter-like conditions.
As the seeds quietly began their transformation beneath the soil, so too did the students, learning valuable lessons about patience, care, and responsibility.
Cultivating Cross-Curricular Learning
In the new year, the initiative expanded. Select students began growing lavender and wildflowers in a vertical garden tower. Soon after, each class, supported by their teacher, began cultivating fruits, vegetables, or flowers in pots. These plants were then gifted to families during Catholic Education Week or Mother's Day bringing learning home in a meaningful way.
In another part of the school, experiential learning took root in the Grades 4 and 5 classrooms. With support from our Experiential Learning Consultant Carrie Clancy and in partnership with Box of Life, students created a vermicomposting station. They learned how food waste could be converted into nutrient-rich soil by live worms. This compost was later shared with classrooms across the school, supporting the growth of their own plants.
The culminating experience for students was a trip to Ferguson Tree Nursery in Kemptville. There, students rotated through six interactive stations focused on seed extraction, native species, and the environmental impact of trees. Each student returned home with a pine sapling collectively adding over 270 trees to the local community.
To everyone's delight, by mid-May, many of the seeds planted in January had begun to sprout. These student-grown saplings are now thriving back in classrooms, where they continue to be nurtured by the students before heading home for the summer.
Deep Learning in Action
Growing Together is a vibrant example of how Deep Learning is being embedded in everyday experiences at St. Augustine and across the OCSB. It supports the development of global competencies that are foundational in all our schools: citizenship, character, communication, critical thinking, collaboration, and creativity.
- Citizenship was modeled as students took action to care for the Earth and contribute to their community.
- Character developed through perseverance, patience, and a willingness to nurture life.
- Communication emerged in the sharing of ideas, planning, and storytelling around classroom planting.
- Critical Thinking was strengthened through scientific inquiry and troubleshooting plant growth challenges.
- Collaboration thrived in peer teamwork and partnerships with community organizations.
- Creativity bloomed as students envisioned and brought to life gardens of all kinds.
Through learning partnerships, hands-on teaching, and meaningful use of technology, the Growing Together initiative exemplifies how schools can prepare students for the future by developing skills that will last a lifetime.As the school year ends and students bring their saplings home, they carry more than just plants they carry pride, purpose, and the roots of lifelong learning.
