DairyCo

Setting up a farm visit

Published 20 January 12

Do you farm in Scotland?

The Royal Highland Education Trust (RHET) was formed in 1999 under the educational remit of the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland (RHASS). The aim of the trust is to provide a balanced and reliable source of information and materials on issues related to food, farming and the countryside in Scotland.

RHET's core activities are delivered through a national network of volunteer farmers across 12 countryside initiatives who host school visits to their farms and present talks to children in the classroom. All RHET activities for both farmers and schools are free of charge.

RHET takes care of all administration related to the organisation of a school visit to a farm.

• Linking the school to a suitable farm based on the topic being studied and desired learning outcomes.
• Pre-visit meeting, during which a risk assessment will be carried out in the presence of both Teacher and host farmer and parameters of visit discussed including the possibility of a Scottish Natural Heritage component to the visit.
• Some funding is available for schools toward the cost of coach travel.

Classroom Speakers
For volunteers who wish to visit schools as a classroom speaker, RHET can provide training on how to deliver interesting and informative talks at an appropriate level to children. Their website also has a range of hints and tips on how to "add value" to a farm visit or classroom talk including games and activities.

As well as these core activities RHET are also involved in a number events and competitions across Scotland. These include Count & Grow, Farmhouse Breakfast Week and Estate Days. If you are interested in getting involved with RHET, please contact rhetinfo@rhass.org.uk or call 0131 335 6227.

Alternatively visit their website at www.rhet.org.uk to find out more about RHET's work in your part of Scotland.

Clean Hands Zone Toolkit

The Federation of City Farms & Community Gardens (FCFCG) has designed a set of free-to-use, highly accessible Health & Safety signs to encourage farm visitors to wash their hands. Better signage has been called for by The Griffin Report, following the EColi outbreak in 2010. The new signs are particularly relevant for young children, people with learning difficulties or other special needs, people whose first language is not English, and children who may be reluctant to wash their hands.

FCFCG have created a flexible system that should allow farms to incorporate the new concept into their own brand signs, based around two simple themes:

• GO signs, which are welcoming and give advice.
• STOP signs, which are alerts and give instructions.

In addition guidance has been written to advise on best practice in writing text (information and instructions) to make leaflets and notices more accessible, and some generic advice about signs and signage.

Price: Free

Available to download is a toolkit containing all of the signage material and information, plus editable versions of the leaflets and posters to make it possible for farms to personalise the leaflets whilst retaining the messages and impact. If you have any comments or queries please contact Ian via admin@farmgarden.org.uk

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Support for dairy farmers

Natural England work with farmers and land managers; business and industry; planners and developers; national, regional and local government; interest groups and local communities to help them improve their local environment via the Natural England Stewardship Schemes.

What is a Stewardship?
Stewardship is a grant scheme which offers payments to farmers who help to enhance and conserve the English landscape, as well as improving habitats and helping to increase biodiversity. All the farms supported by Natural England enter into Countryside Stewardship Scheme or Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreements. Farmers looking to open their farm gates for educational visits, can apply for one-off capital payments to support the hosting of school visits as part of their Higher Level Stewardship funding assistance click here for further information.

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Speak out top tip: BACK TO SCHOOL

Farms are great places for learning. Farmers are great people to learn from. But all too often schools struggle to find the time and finance to make a farm visit. Now every child can go field to field exploring the British countryside, seeing and hearing about the way food is grown - and all without even having to leave the classroom - on the LEAF Virtual Farm Walk.

Why not let your local school know about the Virtual Farm Walk by contacting LEAF for a brochure to pop into your children's school bags and ask them to hand it to their teacher. Just call the LEAF office tel: 024 4641 3911 or email: Justine.hards@leafuk.org

About CEVAS

CEVAS is a voluntary scheme which has been designed to give farmers a better understanding of how to provide safe facilities for children to visit, information that fits with curricular studies, and to give them confidence in dealing with school visits.

1. Preparing for farm visits
2. Food, farming and the countryside in the national curriculum
3. Talking to pupils, students and teachers

Once an individual has been accredited, the farm undergoes a health and safety inspection. If successful, they are listed as CEVAS accredited on the Teachernet and Defra Countrywalks websites. Accredited farms are inspected bi-annually.CEVAS was developed by Farming and Countryside Education, in partnership with Defra, the former Countryside Agency and the Department for Education and Skills.

Are you a setting other than a school offering educational activities to young people?

Would you like to help trainee teachers develop understanding of partnership working, learning outside and creativity?

Could you offer placements to trainee teachers in your setting?

If the answer to the questions above is "yes" then please download the "Teaching outside the classroom" pdf document for information on offering teaching placements.