|
 |
 |
 |
The Farm as an Educational Resource
Pre-booked school groups can choose from a variety of National Curriculum
linked options. We suggest a pre-visit from teachers to discuss what they want to achieve from the school visit so that we can prepare, and be sure we meet their expectations. Please contact Mike or Clare to discuss options.
We can provide:
• Good parking and meeting points.
• Clear signage around the site.
• A copy of our farm risk assessment.
• A site where risks have been carefully identified and minimised.
• Ladies, gents and disabled toilets.
• Large additional hand-wash areas.
• Farmhouse kitchen can provide a set menu for groups.
• Undercover meeting area.
• Tractor and trailer rides (trailer designed to HSE specification & can take 1 wheelchair)
• Self-guided visits where farm staff guide the group around the site and answer questions, but have no input into the educational content of the visit.
• Educational tours where farm staff will lead activities.
• Links to our website for ongoing projects.
• Download maps of the farm and other resources.
|
 |
|
|
 |
We aim to provide a resource that exactly meets your requirements. Below are a few suggestions of what you might like to do on your visit
We work with RSPB to provide additional habitats for the endangered corn
buntings. Why are they endangered? How does the farm help? Is it working? Find out about these songbirds and their different dialects.
Hedgerows provide important habitats for plants and animals and wildlife
corridors for wild mammals. What plants and animals can you find? How do
these change through the year? What tracks or signs of wild mammals can
you find?
We leave stubble fields over the winter to provide feed for wild birds. What
food can you find in these fields? What birds can you see in them?
|
 |
Products from the Farm
Products from farm animals (wool, milk, meat, eggs) Vegetable production.
Manures from animals, soil enrichment, role of earthworms (see them at work in the wormery)
Textures & Colours
• Collect leaves, wool, feathers etc.
• Coats of different animals
Life Cycles
• Farm animals
• Birds
• Insects
• Vegetative
Caring / Responsibility
• Caring for animals that you are responsible for
• Caring for the countryside – farmers as custodians
Mathematics
• Measuring buildings and fields
• Tonnages of crops grown from field sizes and number of trailer-loads brought in
• Number of livestock that a shed will hold using minimum areas per animal
• How much feed to give a group of animals using number of animals
• How much medicine to give an animal based on its weight
Food
• Where does our food come from?
• Different food groups
• Balanced diets
• Food miles - their cost to the environment
• Packaging and recycling
• Making a loaf of bread from wheat brought in from the field
|
Soils
• Different soil types
• Composition of soils
• pH of soils and the effect on crop growth
• Soil nutrients
• Nitrogen-fixing legumes
Use of Information Technology on the farm
• Use of internet to register animals
• Computerised farm management programmes
• Electronic tagging of sheep and use of the information collected
• Record keeping
History
• What is the history of Carruan Estate?
• Who farmed it?
• How has the size of the farm changed?
• How has the type of farming and numbers of livestock changed?
• How many people worked on the farm during different periods?
• What did they do, how did they live?
Cycles
• Follow a crop through from planting to harvest
• Grass growth – changing rates with temperatures |
|
|
|
