WELCOME

It’s wonderful to be able to celebrate our regional, rural and local communities and producers at this year’s Paddock to Plate. It is our honour to celebrate the role of parents and family in the lives of our students while also acknowledging the work of those in our regional and rural heartland.

Indeed, St Hilda’s was founded in 1964 with the mission and purpose of providing access to a world class education to female students primarily from the regional and rural communities of Victoria. While our demographic has shifted somewhat over our 59 year history, with a welcome increase in both metropolitan, interstate and international students that add great diversity to our community, we’re still proud to note that around 60% of our students come from the regions. Supporting these communities will always be a core value and purpose of St Hilda’s.

Paddock to Plate also seeks to embody the college motto, ‘Communitas’, which speaks to our commitment to giving back and contributing to communities around us at a local, national and global level. This motto defines much about what we do here at Hilda’s and is drawn from a strong sense of belonging, connectedness and responsibility to others that is so impressively strong in many of Australia’s regional and rural communities. We hope that tonight, as we raise funds for Farm My School (a charity selected by our student body), that you feel more connected to both our community as well as those around us that we seek to support.

Tonight, we are raising funds for ‘Farm My School,’ a not-for-profit social enterprise located on the Bellarine Peninsula.

‘Farm My School’ is a world-first initiative that transforms unused school land into regenerative market gardens and provides fresh produce to school communities experiencing high levels of food insecurity. ‘Farm My School’ are passionate about empowering students. It promotes healthy eating, ecological stewardship, food security, and connected communities, and empowers students to pursue tertiary pathways in Agricultural and Horticultural studies.

‘Farm My School’ has generously supplied the vegetables and herbs that are on our plates tonight. On August 30th, student volunteers will take our food waste from tonight to ‘the Farm’ to support their regenerative market gardens and work alongside the Bellarine Secondary College on a two-day excursion. By doing this, we create a circular food waste solution and ensure we decrease our wastage and carbon footprint.

We are incredibly grateful to the college and broader community who generously donated items for our auction and raffle tonight, and for ultimately making this night possible. Thank you for your support!

Welcome, Principal James Hardiman & Communitas Director, Meg Kennedy-Ripon

Music Performance by Sonia Freiburg

Main course shared platters served

7:45PM

Guest Auctioneer, Mr Matt Bowles

Auction commences

Farm my School Panel, Dean of Students Fiona Cadorel

8:15PM

Musical Performance from The Addams Family, Jacinta Baker

Dessert served, tea and coffee available self-serve

Auction continued

8:45PM

Raffle and Lucky Door Prizes drawn

9PM

Thank you and closing

Thank you to our students and staff who have generously volunteered their time. Families, brunch in the Dining Hall on Sunday 23 July is between 9:30am &1:30pm