Education programme update
We hear you! An ambitious five-year plan from The National Fruit Show Education team. Five years ago, the Education team set out to radically increase its programme. From the number of people, we were seeing, to the geographical reach and the workshops we delivered, we aimed to increase the reach of everything. Set against the fundamental values of the Marden Fruit Show Society, these ambitious plans were felt necessary to ensure we played our part in the industry’s future ability to feed a nation, who also appreciated them. When planning, we try and predict the social economic and political landscape, which may alter or complement our programme. But just like every grower we endorse, we cannot be the architect of Mother Nature, the weather and especially not the consequences of a health epidemic. And yet despite some fairly hefty challenges, as we close these five years and look at the next, we can see we have achieved all and much more than we set out to. The 2022/23 academic year was another vintage year for us as an education programme, and we have delivered to well over another 10,000 young people and their families across formal and informal education and community events. Currently we are already Education team at the Kent Show 2023
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fully booked until January 2024 and we have plenty of bookings for the rest of the new year. Demand continues to rise due to delivery from a talented and knowledgeable team, and a diverse offering. This academic year we have continued to deliver in schools, to badged groups, young farmer groups etc and at community events. We have taken the programme across the country, widening our geographical reach. We have also supported other industry groups such as Growing Kent and Medway, to local farm open days, helping with their outreach projects and public engagement work. So, while we continue to deliver our programme with consistency and high standards of quality, there have also been some significant changes, namely with our programme for secondary schools and further education.