Over 5000 children discover the journey of wheat, from seed to sarnie!

26 May 2022

The visits, held at farms growing Warburtons wheat, have helped 1,844 primary aged children and received great feedback from teachers and pupils. Unfortunately, in 2020, COVID 19 restrictions meant that on site visits sadly couldn’t go ahead. However, determined to continue to support schools and pupils a new idea was born - Discover Warburtons Wheat Farm in a Box.

The Boxes were available free to schools nationwide and included nine hands-on activities which helped teachers engage their students in the story of wheat, from seed to loaf – bringing the farm to the classroom!

A teacher from The Oaks Primary, Birmingham, a school who were amongst the first to receive a Box in 2021 says, “we know that many of our youngest children do not get the opportunity to visit farms. It has been a valuable experience for them to understand that their food is not made or grown ‘in the shops’ but comes from elsewhere.”

The programme has now entered its second year and during the first week of June, 200 Boxes will land in schools located in the most disadvantaged areas of the country. Boxes were ordered by the schools in March this year, with all being allocated within a week.

Anna Gordon, Farm in a Box Manager adds, “We’re really pleased that so many teachers are keen to take part in our Farm in a Box programme. We know that budgets in schools aren’t always able to extend to visits away from the classroom, and with the location of farms also not making them accessible across the country, we’re really pleased to be able to support more young people and bring the farm to the classroom.”

To complete the story of wheat, the Box also contains seeds for children to germinate & organic flour to explore - flour kindly supplied by Doves Farm. Children sieve the spelt flour to investigate and explore what it’s made from, looking at parts of the grain then discovering the difference between brown and white flour.