Grovelands dig deep for farm project

building a ‘School Farm’ enabling the children to actively connect to the countryside, through having access to ample opportunities of learning animal husbandry and horticulture as an integral part of the school day.

The children will be having hands-on experiences of breeding, handling and looking after animals and will learn about sustainable agriculture. We want to give our children the opportunity of growing and eating seasonal, home-grown foods in school. We plan to extend this further by giving the children experiential, handson learning opportunities related to food systems to support the development of the children’s food literacy and health.

outdoor learning, linked to the farm. This will include many opportunities for innovation STEM (science, technology, engineering & mathematics) challenges.

The children will support biodiversity on the farm, through creating other habitats around the school grounds such as a pond, beehives, bog garden, stone circle, compost bed, wildflower areas etc.

We wholeheartedly have the vision of giving the children meaningful, outdoor learning opportunities to learn new skills to improve their confidence, self-esteem, resilience and ability to work as a group.

Our ‘young farmers’ will be supported to improve their social skills, language and communication skills, tolerance of others

Hawkes Farm pupils settle in to new term

“We would like to say a huge congratulations to our newest children in school - our amazing Reception children - for having settled into school life so wonderfully and for coming into school each and every day with such big, beautiful and positive smiles on their faces!

The children have absolutely loved exploring all of our Reception learning environments and have already made lots of new friends since starting school just over two weeks ago, which has been a real pleasure to observe!

Over the last two weeks, our youngest children have already been for a ‘special tour’ around the school grounds and have met some of the key people who help us around school, such as our super senior leadership team, the fabulous office staff and lovely ladies in the kitchen.

The children have also had the opportunity to play in our exciting adventure playground and school field and now know all of our important school Golden Rules!

Well done again, special Swans! You have all been little superstars and should feel immensely proud of how well you have settled! Lots of love, Miss Florides and the Hawkes Farm Team.” and will play an integral role within the farm team. Targeted individuals and groups will have nurture/therapy sessions on the farm, using the animals as a method of support. We will also be offering before and after school clubs on the farm!

Through accessing the strong connections with our wider environment, such as our farming community and leading members within, will enable me to utilise them to develop our children’s understanding of wider agriculture issues. This will not only benefit our children but will go a long way in actively promoting our school and all the wonderful initiatives we support, giving back to our community; we plan to develop our community cohesion by inviting local groups to visit including nursing homes, home educated children and disability groups.

The farm will be sustainable, partly self-financing and eco-friendly. The children will be leading enterprise projects to promote independent learning, innovation and resourcefulness. This will enable the children to generate money to offset some of the costs, giving them the valuable experiences of learning about budgeting.

The Grovelands children will be inspired to gain confidence in showing their pride of the farm, the animals and the work that it does by showing the animals at Agriculture shows and local and wider community events and demonstrations. We strongly believe that our School Farm project will lead to a catalyst of change for the pupils by making them feel further valued, giving them opportunities to succeed in a safe outdoor space with positive ways of working, modelled and nurtured by the adults and gently supported by the close interactions with the farm animals. We are seeking support from local businesses and individuals. If you think you could support the set up and running of the School Farm, then please do get in touch: farm@grovelands.e-sussex.sch.uk.”

Take A Break

Across

1 Nearest (7)

5 Inexpensive (5)

8 Type of cattle (7)

9 A slight fever (5)

10 Sweet, thick liquid (5)

11 Flat area of high land (7)

12 Form of