Information For Schools
Country Trust Teacher Webinar December 2020
On 1st December 2020, we held a webinar for the fantastic teachers that we work with in providing high quality educational experiences for the most disadvantaged children across England and North Wales.
You can watch a recording of our webinar here, to learn:
- How you can safely take your pupils to farms in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic.
- All about socially-distanced educational activities we can offer.
- The latest government guidance on Health & Safety for educational visits.
- How your Country Trust Coordinator will support you to give your children the most fun and engaging farm experience possible.
- Everything you need to know about Farm in a Box, our new programme which brings the farm to school!
The Teacher Webinar included a truly inspiring speech from our guest speaker Professor Mick Waters, who currently works with schools in the West Midlands in raising educational standards.
And, from The Country Trust: Jill Attenborough, Mary Hext, and Katie Watts, with compère Sue Thompson.
Resources
You can access the links suggested by our fantastic speakers in this Webinar Resources PDF.
You can read up on all the latest Health & Safety advice here.
The Country Trust works with schools in areas of social and economic disadvantage, and schools catering for children with Special Educational Needs.
Outdoor learning
To support our schools during the pandemic we have put together a guide for Learning Outside the classroom:
Watch the Learning Outside - Key Principles video
Read the Learning Outside - Key Principles PDF
The first of our ‘pocketful of ideas’ videos inspires teachers to take learning outside. This video gives some tips on how to get pupils to attend to the natural world and then talk about it:
Watch the video for a 'pocketful of ideas' - Speaking and Listening
Read the PDF for a 'pocketful of ideas' - Speaking and Listening
The second of our 'pocketful of ideas' focuses on learning maths outdoors. These activities make use of pupil’s natural inquisitiveness by challenging them to use their numeracy skills to find record breaking trees in the school grounds.
Read the PDF for a 'pocketful of ideas' - Maths: Measuring Trees
Watch the video for a 'pocketful of ideas' - Maths: Measuring Trees
The third of our 'pocketful of ideas' introduces four different activities designed to show pupils different breathing techniques for wellbeing.
Read the PDF for a 'pocketful of ideas' - Breathing Activities for Wellbeing
Watch the video for a 'pocketful of ideas' - Breathing Activities for Wellbeing
The Country Trust has created 'Grow for it!' packs for Young Carers. These colourful booklets are filled with fun, creative activities centred around farming, gardening and growing.
View the 'Grow for it!' pack PDF
Farm in a Box Online
As part of our programme, Farm in a Box Online, our host farmers introduce us to their livestock and crops in a wonderful video.
You can learn more about farmers and the food they grow by doing this quiz, which accompanies the video.
Partner websites
You can access an excellent collection of teaching resources on the following websites:
Learning Away - Brilliant Residentials
The Council for Learning Outside the Classroom
Warburtons Teaching Resources webpage
Farm websites
Kit lists for children
The Country Trust strongly recommends that all pupils and adult helpers wear wellies on Farm Discovery visits to livestock farms. See flyer here
How do you build a welly bank? Here's a flyer you can use in its entirety or just copy and paste the wording, and send it home with pupils to get parents and carers to find you some wellies
Here we list items your child will need when particpating in one of our following activities:
Countryside Discovery Residentials
Health and Safety resources
You can download the following Country Trust forms:
Cooking sessions and food tasting information request form
Cooking sessions and food tasting consent form
You will find helpful information on the following site:
Information about schools
Two useful resources to help schools find out whether they fit our criteria can be found here:
Compare school and college performance (Ofsted school comparison tool)
Identify schools that appear in the lowest quartile of the Index of Multiple Deprivation
Information about outdoor learning
Education Today is the only business magazine targeting the entire education sector from primary to adult education. In May 2016, they published the following about The Country Trust and outdoor learning:
http://www.education-today.co.uk/index.php/into-the-great-outdoors/
Garden Life teamed up with The Country Trust to create an informative article, not only highlighting the benefits to outdoor learning but also with an aim to encourage schools to get more involved. Read on to find out what we’ve been up to:
gardenlife.shedstore.co.uk/encouraging-outdoor-learning-funds-projects-across-uk/
gardenlife.shedstore.co.uk/getting-outside-with-the-country-trust/
School blogs
A number of schools have blogged about their Country Trust visits and experiences. Here is a selection:
Redhill Primary School visit to Chillington Hall and Boscobel House
Language resources
Word banks
Arable Farm
Beef Farm
Dairy Farm
Energy Farm
Farming Landscapes
Fruit Farm
General Farming
Pig Farm
Poultry Farm
Sheep Farm
Tasting
Textures
Weather
Residential Partners Documents
Barton Turf Site Risk Assessment for Schools Activities
Kilnsey Trekking Code of Conduct
Kilnsey Trekking Terms & Conditions
Kilnsey Trekking Division of Responsibilities
Kilnsey Trekking Risk Assessment
Suffolk Wildlife Trust Building Code of Practice
Suffolk Widlife Trust Rendlesham Forest School Visits Risk Assessment