Wrington Primary School
Dig Down South West is a fantastic opportunity for the children to get involved in growing their own food. They all really enjoy having their lessons outside but this will mean they are having fun while they are learning. We all know we should be eating healthily, getting more excersise and fresh air, and showing children how they can grow their own food is the way they can do all of these things at once, hopefully it will be something they will remember into their adult life. Tasting the sweetness of the first ripe strawberries or the flavour of the first harvest of runner beans, this is what great childhood memories are made of. But it also provides fun ways of delivering the curriculum, inspiring creative writing, bringing a purpose to measuring and weighing, and teamworking opportunities.
Our school has been lucky twice over, firstly in winning the garden but also having our school within 2 miles of the charity Farmlink, an organisation that provides school children the chance to visit farms, with an informative “hands-on” approach to education in a countryside setting.
FarmLink is dedicated to educating school children about farming, food production, healthier eating and the environment. The charity was formed at Alvis Bros, with retired farm manger Farmer Nick visiting schools through the winter terms and then children visiting farms through the spring, summer and autumn terms studying a subject of the teachers choice, all linked to the National Curriculum. Alvis’s farms have now been joined by Yeo Valley, in the Mendips and Coombe Farm, Crewkerne, extending the charity throughout Somerset. The visits are tailored to the schools requirements with many different types of farms involved, and as farms can be veiwed as dangerous places for children the charity has put extensive effort into the health and safety arrangements for each visit.
In both school and on the farm the lessons are innovative and fun and inspire the children to want to learn. The results are always positive and the children always look forward to a visit to school by Farmer Nick or by them to the farm. More details of the charity can be found at www.farmlink.org.uk.
Farmer Nick was very pleased to help when Mrs Kerley (Deputy Head) asked if he could provide enough soil for us to grow our garden in, saving an awful lot of digging to get part of our playing field prepared for the veg plants. Its already achieved part of the charity’s aims, to make young people more aware of the environment around them, as they hadn’t realised how many worms were living in their playing field until we started diggging!
