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An update on The Community Farm's learning programme

An update on The Community Farm's learning programme

Since we embarked on The Community Farm's learning programme in early 2013, we have made great progress.
One of the main aims of The Community Farm is to provide opportunities for people to learn how the food they eat is produced and also to develop an understanding of the impact their food choices have on the environment.
Our learning programme aims not only to teach people about food and farming, but to involve participants from diverse sectors of our local community.
Here is a snapshot of this spring's learning activities:

Primary school visits

We are passionate about helping to children to develop a real understanding of food, how it can be grown sustainably and the importance of healthy eating. In doing so, we hope that future generations will more greatly value the kind of farming that benefits both people and the planet.
So far we have welcomed four primary school classes to the farm, with another seven booked to come in the next two months. The schools visiting include Blagdon Primary School, Bishop Sutton Primary School, East Harptree Primary School. These schools are very local to the farm, helping us to build our connection with local families.
While it is fantastic to have pupils visiting the farm, we appreciate that some schools would prefer if we came to them. So we are in the process of developing our outreach activities too.
Read more about our school learning programme

Bishop Sutton Primary: Community Garden Project

The Community Farm is working in partnership with the Avon Wildlife Trust on a project to help a Year 4 class from Bishop Sutton Primary School to develop a community garden on the school grounds.

As part of this project Community Learning Officer, Claire Rosling, went along to the school to help the children create and map out a design for the community garden.
Throughout the spring and summer the children will be making several visits to The Community Farm and Folly Farm. They will be gaining inspiration and learning techniques for growing organically which they can then implement at the school.

School Garden Project

Thanks to funding from Santander, The Community Farm was able to employ Sara Turrill for a six-month internship to help develop our relationships with local schools.
Sara has visited five schools in the area to work with the children on growing activities. She has developed a resource pack for teachers and will be returning to the schools in the coming months for follow-up activities.
Read more about Sara Turill's internship

Bristol Food Connections Schools Week

We ran a series of workshops for children in association with the BBC at Bristol Food Connections.
Sara and Claire from the farm worked closely with the Soil Association to develop interactive activities on the importance of bees and worms for food production.
The activities had a huge impact - In just four days, 1,440 children from 40 primary schools across Bristol came along to take part.

Team-building days

So far this spring we have welcomed groups from Burges Salmon and EE for team-building days at the farm. We are currently awaiting confirmation from three further companies wishing to spend a day with us.

These groups help us with a range of different practical projects around the farm, such as building raised beds and, recently, a small field kitchen. They have been invaluable in helping us develop our learning field, moving it towards being an educationally engaging and informative area, accessible for wheelchairs.
Team-building days provide a valuable opportunity for staff to get to know each other on a neutral territory and work together cooperatively, developing real cohesion within a team.
A day out at The Community Farm is also a valuable way for companies to give something back to their community – Money raised from corporate groups helps us to support vulnerable and disadvantaged groups at the farm.

Employee volunteering

Groups from a range of organisations have also been undertaking a variety of agricultural tasks. Having this additional help has really helped us to catch up after the wet start to the year.
Read more about employee volunteering and team-building days

Children's activities

Our Farm Forest School in the school holidays proved very popular. Children have been exploring the farm and local woodland and taking part in activities such as campfire building, story telling, woodland crafts, planting, harvesting and cookery.
We are also now running seasonal 'Field to Fork' cookery classes for children. The classes involve harvesting produce from our fields and preparing a vegetarian seasonal feast to share.
Read about children's activities

Adult Learning

So far this year we have had quite a variety of adult learning activities:
  • Grafting workshop: make your own fruit trees
  • Introduction to bees and natural bee keeping
  • Introduction to permaculture weekend
  • Plot to Plate cookery – spice up your spring!
We are still finding our feet with workshops for adults. While some courses have been hugely popular, others have proved hard to fill.
Looking ahead, we are planning four cookery days each year along with possibly a few horticultural courses as and when we are able. Having fewer workshops for adults will free up time to focus on school and corporate days and allow us to promote the workshops we do have more effectively.

A fantastic first year

It is clear that our learning programme is already making great progress in teaching a wide range of people about food and farming.
In turn, through our learning programme members of the local community are having an unmistakably positive impact on The Community Farm and what we are able to achieve.
Click here to read more about The Community Farm's learning activities

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