LEAF Education
leaf.eco/education
[email protected]
02476 413911
Description of typical day on farm visit
With our network of trained farmers, and our highly skilled team of Regional Educational Consultants (RECs), we can help you plan and run safe, curriculum-linked educational farm visits, activity sessions, and events for young people.
Our farm visits work to engage, inspire and motivate young people through experiential learning, in order to equip our future generations with a balanced and informed insight into food production, farming, and the natural environment.
Before your visit, we will work together to ensure that your students achieve the best possible learning experience on the day. During a pre-visit to the farm, you will be greeted by one of our RECs and the farmer and begin to familiarise yourself with your surroundings. Depending on the type of visit, a range of activities will be incorporated into the day specifically linked to the aims and objectives agreed with your REC. These practical, hands-on learning activities link to the National Curriculum, and we cater for every student in all Key Stages!
Outline of the benefits of farm visit for the children
Research shows that we all benefit from time outdoors. At a period when many young people are being diagnosed with stress-related illnesses, you and your students are invited to a sensory-rich visit that also makes the connections between food, farming and nature. Activities are based on the five senses and can be tailored to suit different groups and age ranges. Our experiential learning opportunities engage students in discussions, inspire them to investigate and learn facts, and motivate them to become an active participant in addressing local, national and global developments about food production, farming and the environment. These experiential learning opportunities are delivered through engaging, curriculum-linked activities and experiences for classes at all Key Stages which inspire them about food, farming and the countryside.
It will be a day of fun activities with a focus on how learning in an outdoor environment can stimulate young learners with sounds, words, literature and genres of writing whilst combining knowledge, vocabulary and story ideas in a farm or countryside setting.
How visit links to curriculum
As well as tailoring our sample Curriculum Enrichment Days to your needs, our team of Regional Education Consultants can develop bespoke experiences for your school at any duration, subject focus or type of activity. Do you have a group of learners that you want to challenge within English or maths? A Year 5 class that needs to focus on expanding Literacy? Want a taster Business Studies on farm day for Year 9? Have a group of disengaged learners that thrive in an experiential learning environment? Need to deliver exam specification points for AQA or Edexcel?
All our RECs are qualified teachers and their breadth of experience ranges from EYFS to KS5 ensuring that we can provide a bespoke curriculum approach to you and your students. Mix & match subjects and activities of your choosing; Co-design your activities with our Regional Education Consultants who understand schools' requirements; and be guided through the practicalities by our experienced team.
Current Curriculum Enhancement days include: Breakfast on the farm, English on the farm, Maths on the Farm, Environmental Science on the farm, Health and Wellbeing on the farm, Get growing on the farm, and Business on the farm.
This is just a sample of the activities we offer. Each one can be tailored to the individual requirements of your school, or we can prepare completely bespoke activities suitable for different settings, needs and requirements. Contact us for a detailed discussion: [email protected]
Any other benefits of visit e.g. health & wellbeing?
LEAF Education has an excellent reputation for high quality training of farmers and farm educators to ensure visits are safe, professional and educational for your students. Our team of expert educators have worked with retailers, food brands, farming unions, agricultural societies, colleges, charities and government agencies to equip individuals and teams for working with schools.
Do you have barriers preventing you taking your pupils onto a farm? We also run regular Virtual Farm Visits which you can deliver in your classroom. Our RECs and farmers are live and on farm to answer your questions and to show you the diverse range of activities taking place on a particular farm.
After your visit, get involved in our wider work to help you have a more meaningful impact to address national and global pledges and issues. Work with your local REC to become a LEAF Education Demonstration School, and join events like #FarmingFortnight and #Farmmyfood.
What more can our consultants offer you?
For farmers & businesses:
- Quality, balanced and curriculum-relevant teaching and planning materials
- Opportunities to present at local events
- Help to develop partnership projects with LEAF Education
- Knowledge and experience to help you know more about education in the farming sector
- Facilitating relationships with your local schools
- Delivering training
- Advice on running farm visits
- Expertise in translating concepts and practices between the farm and the school.
For teachers & educators:
- Regional knowledge and expertise about what is currently available in your area with regards to food, farming and countryside education
- Access to a wide regional network of teachers and farmers and opportunities to connect with them
- Large portfolio of tried-and-tested learning content
- Detailed knowledge of the education system, the curriculum and teacher training / CPD
- Development of training opportunities to increase confidence to teach about issues of food, farming and the natural environment
- Access to trusted experts to enhance learning
- Signposting to safe and inspiring outdoor learning spaces
- Tailored and independent advice to help build activities and programmes that best suit the school, enrich the curriculum and promote wider pupil development.