Edmund Partridge Community Kitchen

Our Community Kitchen project is hoping to provide newcomers to Canada, who attend our school, the opportunity to lead a group of peers in the culinary arts from their home country. This opportunity will provide newcomers to our school the chance to develop new friendhips within their community, share a piece of their culture and practice speaking English in a low-stress social environment. Food is one of the great uniters in our world; giving our students new to the country the opportunity to shine and share one of the most important facets of their culture, will help further unite us as a community.

Update (June 12, 2018)

The Edmund Partridge Community Kitchen has been an incredible success thus far! We have not only enhanced the experiences of our newcomers and EAL students, but also that of our wider school community. During our time in the kitchen, families of our students have also joined us and extended the wider impact of this project. As we are a community school, it is just wonderful seeing the community truly interacting, working and learning together. Thank you, Imagine Action.

Update (June 29, 2018)

Connections in the Kitchen. This ImagineAction project with the students at my school exceeded all of my expectations beyond my wildest dreams. The intent of the Edmund Partridge Community Kitchen was to provide a low stress social environment where students who are EAL are able to practice their English and have the opportunity to share more about themselves, their culture and their community with their peers. Food is the great unifier across all boundaries and I couldn't be happier with the outcome of this experience.

One of the outcomes of this experience at our school that I didn't expect, was how passionate the families of our EAL students were as they participated in the project. Sameer, who is the parent of one of the students that I teach, become incredibly invested in participating, sharing and teaching others about the significance of the dishes he and his daughter were sharing with her class, why they eat Halal and how the animals are treated. Both Aya and her father also delighted and shined at the opportunity to teach others some basic Arabic.

I believe the strength of our school is defined by its' members. We are a community school and are so grateful that we had the opportunity to grow closer together through this funding and experience.