Insperational Chef ON AIR
NEW ARTICLE - CELEBRITY CHEF SERVES UP SOUND ADVICE FOR ASPIRING YOUNG COOKS
A leter from The Hon Peter Garrett AM MP
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Introduction: Matthew McKenzie’s inspiration for his Life Skills Education Program
Growing up in country Victoria wasn't the easiest for me, and I especially hated school for many reasons. School wasn't one of my most entertaining things to attend to. In fact I was expelled 3 times at 2 different state high schools and my last completed class was grade 6 well attending primary school.
I personally battled a lot of nasty obstacles throughout my childhood. A lot of these problems occurred outside school, and then I bought my problems into school. I didn't ask to bring my problems to school, but that's just how it was. You will find 3 out of 5 struggling students will have issues outside school that then reflects on their behaviour and learning performance well attending school. A lot of these outside problems go unnoticed, almost like depression, hard to spot.
To give you an example of what I have been through; ADHD, crime, drug addiction, petrol sniffing, child abuse, sexual abuse, school bulling, alcohol and depression, not to mention mixing with the wrong crowd of kids and young adults which influenced me heavily into making the wrong decisions throughout my childhood days.
My program is about providing fresh, safe, and professional guidance to these young individuals. I will be educating them about my most favourite words, CHOICE of Liberty. These students make the choice of liberty every day, some have good results, and unfortunately some will result in consequences. I could keep writing about my whole life story. All I can say is "I have been there and done that" So now it’s my time to pass on some life skills education and valuable knowledge and help these young people to develop their life positively & safely.
Thank you to Jamie Oliver and Fifteen for giving me a second chance in life, helping me build the courage and self-confidence to pursue my dreams and help other people along my journey.
Sincerely Yours,
Matthew Paul McKenzie xx
Workshop Information
Class information:
- Max 25 students per block (recommended 20 students per class)
- Workshop, Juniors Morning Block runs for roughly 3.5 hours (long block)
- Workshop, Seniors Afternoon Block runs for roughly 2.5 hours (short block)
- 1x 5 minute brake provided between every 50 minutes (attention to student concentration span)
The school needs to provide the following:
- A teacher for the day (it is mandatory that the school provides a teacher to participate
during
all workshops throughout the day to monitor students behaviour & participation)
- A commercial safe kitchen provided (hospitality kitchen and equipment,
if not please
talk to
Matthew)
- A closed class room provided
- A grassy picnic area (oval)
Matthew will provide the following:
- All worksheets, pens, paper and other office materials needed
- A box off healthy mystery ingredients for the students to select from
- Reliable local resources and information show bag
- Local councillor from the area to attend the class
Program Summery
Program Outline: 4 hours
> Program Setup, Matthew – Inside (30mins)
1. Brief Introduction, Matthew – Outside (5mins)
2. Team Building Warm-Up Activities – Outside (15mins)
3. Matthew’s Story - Inspirational, Motivational, Transformation Speech – Inside (20mins)
4. Life Skills Education – Inside (40mins)
5. Reliable Local Resources and Information Show Bag (10mins)
6. Personal Goal Setting Program – Inside (25mins)
7. Team Building Cooking Module, MasterChef class – Inside (1hr 10 mins)
8. Eating Food – Outside (15mins)
9. Student & Teachers Feedback – (5mins)
Total Time: 3 hours and 25 minutes (please allow 4 hours run time to be comfortable)
Subject: ‘Life Skills Education’ Program
CATEGORIES
1. Drugs
2. Alcohol
3. Crime
4. Chroming
5. Physical Abuse
6. Sexual Abuse
7. Relationships
8. Study/Work/Career |
9. Personal/Family
10. Friendships/Relationships
11. Physical Health/Exercise/Eating
12. Behaviour/Bulling/Conflict Situations
13. Homeless
14. Depression/Suicide
15. Mental Illness/Other Illnesses
16. Safe Sex/Sexually Transmitted Diseases |
Section 1: Brief introduction of Matthew (5mins)
Matthew meets the students for the very first time outside in a nice open grassy area. He briefly introduces himself and gives the students a brief introduction about how the program will unfold over the next 4 hours.
Section 2: Team building warm up activities (15mins)
Matthew specially selects a group of fun team activities from his games book. The objective is for each of the students to get involved and work together as a team and have fun. This helps build their team building skills up, it also helps loosen their nerves and bonds a relationship and trust with Matthew.
Section 3: Matthew’s story, inspirational, motivational, transformation speech (20mins)
Matthew talks about his walk of life, how he came from a life full of darkness, to forge a life worth living for. He touches the students hearts from his warming story. The students are engaged by listening to Matthew explain how he has been through so much and how he overcome his problems as a teenager. Matthew tells the students “they can to overcome their problems” and explains some of the steps he has taken to achieve his goals to look forward to a much happier and brighter future.
Section 4: Life skills education (40mins)
In this subject Matthew will educate all the students on life skills education. These specially selected categories play a very important part of his program. Matthew touches on each category with fine detail and tells of his past experiences. He teachers the students the “wrong and right way” and the “do’s and don’ts” for every situation. The students will walk away much more knowledgeable and confident from life skills education which will prepare them for any current or future problems. This group discussion also gives the students the opportunity to open up and verbally share with Matthew and the class any current or past problems they have or had. Matthew also invites a local councillor to attend the group discussion for the kids if they need someone to talk to about their problems.
Section 5: Reliable local resources and information show bag (10mins)
Matthew researches each area before he arrives and gathers good reliable recourses and information for the students. The students are handed a show bag of goodies and a list to follow up after the life skills education discussion. Some of this information and referrals will include the following; local counsellor in the area, a teacher to help them organise their studies, safe and fun activities to do in their local area, health and fitness, food and other.
Section 6: Personal goal setting program (25mins)
Matthew tells the students how he did it, how he set his goals, and how he achieved them “dream, believe, achieve”. Matthew demonstrates by drawing a diagram on a whiteboard or plays a PowerPoint presentation which shows the kids just how easy it really is to set goals. The students learn how to set achievable goals from following Matthew’s goals guideline and creating a action plan to make progress and keep on track. Each student will walk away with a list of new achievable goals. Their teachers are asked to kindly follow up and assess the students action plans and progress with their goals weekly for the next 4 weeks.
Section 7: Team building cooking module, Master chef class (1hr 10 mins)
Matthew believes there is nothing like showing the students how easy it is to create a delicious and healthy meal from basic ingredients. The students learn some of Matthew’s culinary skills and how to safely prepare and cook divine meals. This is a group activity, groups of 3 students per preparation bench.
Section 8: Eating food (15mins)
Section 9: Student & teachers feedback (5mins)
Matthew will hand out a separate feedback form to all participating teachers and adults who attended the “Life Skills Education” program. Feedback forms will be sent to your office.
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Contact Information
Talk to us today
and ask us how we can help
make a difference!
Name: Matthew McKenzie
Position: Executive Head Chef
Email: divinedinners@chef.id.au
Mobile: 0433 132 192
Business: Divine Dinners
ABN: 46 329 956 679 |
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