Thanks once again to the Farming in Protected Landscapes grant we received last year we have begun to develop a partnership with our local secondary school, Chew Valley School. The partnership aims to further engage diverse local families with our work, and the interactions between food, farming, and wildlife in the local area.
Our initial contact was with a group of pupils who had struggled to find relevant placements during work experience week and who attended The Farm last summer, picked some beautiful vegetables and learned how to make pizza on our cob oven.
Following this, we have worked during January with GCSE Food and Nutrition students on three sessions hosted by our education partner, Earthwise. Claire Rosling, founder of Earthwise said:
“We've absolutely loved welcoming Year 10 and 11 groups from Chew Valley School to The Farm over the past couple of weeks.
During their visits we picked and tasted crops, explored how and why we grow food organically and some of the challenges that this brings and also delved deep into the wonderful world of soil and why this is the #1 most important thing on our farm.
Nothing better than getting a bunch of teenagers to get their hands dirty! We examined the health of our soil, discovered some of the soil life we could see and learnt more about what we can't, including the wonderful world of Mycorrhiza.
If you have a school group that you'd like to bring out to our glorious farm in the Chew Valley then get in touch.”
Our Managing Director, Kim Brooks and Communities and Partnerships Manager Daisy Sutcliffe went on to make a film about leadership and management of a small/medium sized enterprise and Community Supported Agriculture project for the school to use in their Aspire programme, which encourages enterprise in students. Assistant Head, Kate Rowlands manages this programme and reflected:
“I am blown away by how useful the video is. I watched it through and was just thinking how well it fits with the ethos and values of our school. Thank you both so much.”
We are going on to run a more in depth project with the Aspire programme over the summer. Thanks to all involved, and especially staff at Chew Valley School and the Mendip Hills Area for Outstanding Natural Beauty.
