Escape to the farm

Never has it been more important for children to learn about food production or responsibility for animals. Tessa Waugh reports on the schools taking a lead in agricultural education

- Tessa Waugh

WE have all read surveys declaring that three in 10 children believe that eggs come from sheep and that cheese comes from butterflies. It is certainly true that people are becoming increasingly divorced from the origins of their food. Educators are keen to address this worrying trend and many schools in rural locations are making use of the space around them in new ways, by keeping animals and growing their own fruit and vegetables. They report that introducing a farm, however small, enhances the learning experience and teaches vital lessons about animal husbandry, conservation and the responsibility of looking after an animal.

Lathallan School, housed in a 19thcentury castle on the east coast of Scotland, is a pioneer of integrated farm/school learning and the farm is enmeshed in the daily life of the school. ‘You can’t really avoid it,’ enthuses headmaster Richard Toley, who joined Lathallan in 2006 and quickly reinstated the walled garden that had fed the school in the 1970s. ‘Some schools have farms on the fringes of their grounds, ours is in the middle: the pigs are in an annexe of the castle and the alpacas are in the walled garden, together with the apple trees and potatoes. The younger children are there every playtime. We also have an industrial-sized polytunnel for soft fruits. Everything is within touching distance.’