[Odin]

Just been listening to Farming Today on Radio 4 . They were talking about schools visiting farms, interesting , saying that whilst children are encouraged to eat fresh food, many do not know where 'fresh food' comes from ? They do not know what comes before the supermarket.

[sam.t]

my 5 year old did this a couple of weeks ago with her class(yr1) they went to a co-op farm and she really enjoyed her self (only moaned a bit about no animals) they got to make  their own veg soup for lunch using the produce from the farm.

sam 

[thestephens]

we have had my daughters class visit our farm, it was good but lots of strict rules, we have also gone to school with the farm on wheels too, most worthwhile are the poorer area schools where they may never have seen real farm animals.

[Rosemary]

I used to work for the Royal Highland Education Trust (RHET) which is funded by the RHASS, NFUS and a few others. RHET's remit is to get children out on to farms; it has a series of farmer run area committees, each supported by a paid coordinator. Aberdeenshire area is slightly different as it was the first of these and is funded by the Royal Northern Agricultural Society.

RHET gets thousands on kids on farm visits each year, plus farmer speakers into schools, as well as running the Discovery Centre at the RHS and special events such as Food and Farming Days.

In my year as coordinator in Forth Valley, I was surprised (a bit) at the level of ignorance in children and in the adults working in schools. Hopefully, RHET is making some difference, but there seems to be no formal education courses in schools for young people, which is a shame.

Our risk assessment ran to about 20 pages but came down to three things - tidy up, supervise the kids and make sure they wash their hands thoroughly before leaving the farm.

The main issue for schools was the cost of transport and I don't see that improving in the foreseeable. Although, some headteachers always seemed to find a way - I suppose where there's a will...

[JulieS]

All the children who stay in the holiday cottage enjoy helping to feed the pigs and chickens and collecting the eggs.

Last summer there were 2 children staying, they were 8 and 5.  They thought that when pigs had babies that they had sausages!  They also thought that eggs grew on trees. 

They learnt a lot on their week's holiday.  I'm pleased to say they have booked to come again next summer 

[benkt]

We'd love to host school visits on our community farm, but I'm not too sure how to go about it. Does anyone know what facilities we would need to provide etc.?

Ben

[Rosemary]

There is an English equivalent of RHET - I just can't remember what it's called  If no-one else knows, email RHET and I'm sure they'll help.

You'll need a formal risk assessment process, which isn't as awful as it sounds. Toilet not essential if the kids are only coming for a couple of hours and aren't travelling far, but it's useful to have one, just in case. Decent handwashing facilities a must - suitable to cope with 25-30 folk all at once.

[little blue]

In my year as coordinator in Forth Valley, I was surprised (a bit) at the level of ignorance in children and in the adults working in schools.

spot on ... its not just the kids who don't know, alot of my colleagues just don't get it either

Alot of them are interested, but don't always appreciate or want to accept what they are being taught about livestock, food growing, the rules & regs, where food comes from & how it is treated.

we build it into the curriculum, but there has to be the backing from the adults too...

[thestephens]

i remember going to a school and in the class there was every colour and race and they were just so interested, they were a bit disappointed that i wasnt a man wearing flat cap and dungarees but we got over that. I asked if there were any questions they would like to ask me, got all the usual, "whats your dogs name" how many cows etc etc then this girl put up her hand "i love your dress where did you get it from"!!
would have loved to have answered i hand knitted it from wool from one of the sheep but no shop bought!!

[bazzais]

I am not into 'disclaimers' - they often goes against sensibility.

I think - there is a whole world for young kids to travel into - they should be exposed to as many of those worlds as possible without harm.

Farm visits would and should be interesting, if made to be, for the majority of youngsters.

Baz