Whether it's used to raise animals or grow vegetables, a little bit of green space can be a valuable teaching resource.
One size doesn't fit all
While your ambitions may be grand, the size of your farm will be limited by the space available on your school grounds. That might mean dashing your dreams of rustling cattle at sundown, but the good news is that any primary or secondary has room for some form of agricultural project.
The Elms School in Malvern boasts a herd of 18 cattle, pigs and a vegetable garden. But, as headteacher Alastair Thomas explains, it's not the size of your farm that matters, it's what you do with it that counts.
"Whether you live on a small estate or a flat in London, you can grow anything," he says. "Even if you're only planting baby carrots on your balcony, it's about giving kids a different life skill at a time when we are so obsessed with exams and results. You are giving them a chance to reflect on other things."
Sue Verdeyen, education officer at Three Counties Agricultural Society, advises schools with limited space to create a makeshift greenhouse on a spare window ledge. Simply get a bit of cardboard and tin foil, pop the little feed pots on the edge of it so the light is reflected and make sure you turn them round from time to time. Start small and expand it gradually.
How should your garden grow?
Salad vegetables, carrots and potatoes are all easy to grow, are low-maintenance, take minimum space and produce maximum outcomes. Your main consideration, however, should be the growing year.
Carshalton Boys Sports College, an inner-city secondary in Surrey, built allotments on a small scrap of land to grow healthy fruit and vegetables for their kitchen. Deputy head Jenny Gaylor warns against growing foods that will only ripen in July and August when the school shuts for summer.
"You've got to think very carefully about the produce you grow, stuff that's going to crop quite quickly and produce results as early as possible," she advises. Fruit is good because the harvest is around September time and the school features a small fruit tree area where they grow raspberries. Gaylor also loves to grow pumpkins because they require virtually no care and don't require great soil to grow in.
She adds: "It's about being very conscious about the school year. You should also be talking to the parents because there will always be a grandma or relative who has a wealth of knowledge and advice about what is best to grow."
Animal farm
Choosing to rear animals on your farm is a big commitment that requires not only time, but staff training and money. The Elms School first introduced pigs 30 years ago and the farm has now grown to include cows. Headteacher Thomas insists taking on animals is not a decision that should be taken lightly.
"It depends on what you are trying to achieve through your farm," he says. "If you're looking for a petting paddock, just looking after the animals and getting an idea of what they are doing, then you need animals which are a suitable size for the children who are caring for them. Our cattle are under careful supervision of our farm staff. But it's not quite the same as having a small lamb, which children can stroke and feed with a bottle."
Education officer Verdeyen says while small animals, such as chickens, are relatively easy to look after, there are welfare issues to be considered, as well as the age group of the students involved with looking after the livestock.
There are some serious issues that schools must think long and hard about before they go for it, she adds. Part of agriculture and getting children to learn where their food comes from is learning about the natural cycle of breeding animals for meat. They need to understand that but it needs to be presented it in the right way.
She adds: "A key thing is teaching children respect for animals and that they are a valuable product. They need to be taught that it is incumbent on them to look after the animals and give them as good a life as possible."
Time and money
Farms don't run themselves. They are year-round operations which take time and effort. That's why it is so important to get the whole school community on board before you start, not only leadership but teachers and parents as well. Verdeyen warns all staff need to realise what a commitment it's going to be. If you're going to have a vegetable garden, you can crop either side of the holidays, but you have got to think about what to do during school breaks. Things don't just stop because the end of the term has arrived.
Linking it to the curriculum is a great way to not only ensure the farm is reaching its potential as a learning resource, but that there will be staff interested in taking care of the project. By integrating the farm into science lessons, Carshalton won the support of technicians who were around during the summer holidays.
It needn't cost a bomb either. The Soil Association donated the fertile ground for Carshalton's allotments, while partnering with national organisations such as Food for Life and Garden Organic helped with funding. Verdeyen also suggests recycling simple materials from the supermarket, such as plastic containers for tomatoes, to use as seed trays. Just pop a few holes in the bottom for drainage and voila!
Meeting the demands of the curriculum
Of course, one of the biggest reasons for many schools starting a farm is to use the space for practical, creative learning activities. You should, therefore, spend some time thinking about how the design of the space achieves various curriculum objectives, whether that's including mathematical patterns in your vegetable beds or planting produce that the children can sell to hone their enterprise skills.
Verdeyen says art is a subject that can help catch the eye of students who might not otherwise be interested in getting their hands dirty and suggests making the farm aesthetically pleasing.
Starting a farm may be daunting at first, but as Gaylor reminds us, there are plenty of people out there who can give advice to schools. She adds: "It's about small steps and having a passion about it. You have to want things to be different. If you've got a can-do attitude, you can make anything happen."
http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2014/mar/18/green-schools-how-to-start-a-farm
