By REBECCA BILLS
BELGRAVE South Primary School students have a new, rather large, edition to their school in the form of a life-size cow called Big Bessie.
The school is taking part in Diary Australia’s myth busting Picasso Cows program which is aimed at helping children to understand that milk does not just come from the supermarket and brown cows don’t make chocolate milk.
Program organiser and grade one and two teacher Sarah Sussman said the school was keen to get involved after being contacted by Dairy Australia.
“We are doing a whole lot of work across the preps, ones and twos on farms so we will be learning about lots of different farms and we have done a lot of work, specifically on dairy farms, over the last few weeks,” she said.
“We are going on an excursion next week to Chesterfield Farm so the students can make butter and lots of other activities focused on what are dairy foods, where does it come from and, most importantly, why it is good for them.”
Ms Sussman said statistics showed that children aren’t having enough dairy in their diets so the program was a valuable asset in helping children understand the benefits of consuming dairy products.
Dairy Australia dietician Amber Beaumont said she saw the program as a great opportunity to instil healthy lifestyle habits at an early age.
“Most Australian children don’t consume enough dairy foods to meet their daily nutritional requirements,” she said.
“The program helps kids appreciate Australia’s dairy industry and gain an understanding of the health benefits of milk, cheese and yogurt.”
Art teacher Christine Bernhardt said although student from prep to grade two were specifically learning about farms, the whole school was involved in designing and painting Big Bessie.
Principal Kerryn Baillie said the children have until June to finish Big Bessie and then she will be presented at the region’s grand final presentation day.
At the event the region’s schools that have participated in the program will show off their handy work and the winning school will receive $250.
The Picasso Cows program is in its sixth year and will see a cow added to the curriculum of 58 schools across Australia.
