Outdoor lessons are even more fun at Te Ranga Primary School in Te Puke thanks to a $2000 grant from Rural Women New Zealand and Farmlands.

The school is one of 10 nationwide to have won gardening grants, funded by the popular Farmlands Ladies Nights.

Students, teachers and sponsors in the garden at Te Ranga School.

Tauranga, from Rural Women NZ representative Mary McTavish of Tauranga, a representative from Te Puke Farmlands and Wayne Roberts from Agrisea presented the school with a $2000 cheque to help upgrade its gardens, as well as two huge 40 litre containers of fertiliser.

Each of the five classes at Te Ranga School has a garden and the funds will be spent on installing irrigation and buying children's sizes in rakes, trowels and shovels.

Rural Women NZ national president, Wendy McGowan, says this is the fourth time Rural Women NZ and Farmlands have worked together to distribute the proceeds from the popular Farmlands Ladies Nights.

'There's a real focus in schools on children learning the value of eating fresh food and understanding where it comes from, and we're very pleased to be able to support this, especially as we celebrate the UN International Year of Family Farming.”

Farmlands' Events and Sponsorship Manager, Helen Shrewsbury says the company is proud to continue its support of Rural Women New Zealand and the rural school garden grants.

'As a rural co-operative, it just makes sense for us to support the schools that make up the hubs of the rural communities we service.”

The successful rural schools were chosen from 58 applicants, and they had plenty of ideas on how to spend their cheques.Projects range from building a tunnel house to constructing a hen pen, buying equipment such as rakes, spades, seeds and plants, and building a permaculture edible food forest.

The schools will also receive a copy of ‘A Good Harvest – recipes from the gardens of Rural Women New Zealand' so the children can learn how to put all their end produce to good use.