Eastfield Primary School in Thurmaston, Leicestershire is so passionate in educating children about British food that it not only grows its own vegetables but has its own farm as well. All the classes in the school are allocated duties on the farm; the KS2 children care for the larger animals each day with KS1 and foundation stage children caring for the chickens, ducks and rabbits.

The school has also changed to a topic-based curriculum giving each class the ability to incorporate the farm into all areas of learning. In maths for example, the younger children are taught to count using eggs and how to measure by working out the area of the pens. Older children use more complex mathmatics to calculate the weight of food in relation to the rate of feeding and the size of the animals. They also place the order for the pig feed. In Literacy, there have been creative writing topics based on farm life and in ICT pupils have filmed the animals as well as creating care instruction leaflets and posters. In Science, the farm has been used to teach pupils about birth, growth and mirco-organisms and the care of animals is integral to the PSHE syllabus. Patterns in nature and clay models inspired by the farm have been created in Art and Design. In fact many areas of the curriculum are taught outside to demonstrate the value of a farm as a resource for learning.

The school is currently on its third set of pigs, the sausages and cuts made from the previous pigs were sold to parents for small donations. The parents are in full support of the farm with head teacher Bill Griffiths stating "Having an on-site farm makes the children healthy and fit and educates them as to where their food comes from, while, at the same time reducing their carbon footprint."

Obviously, many schools do not have the facilities to run their own farm. However, pupils can still learn about the animal-to-plate process by following the example of schools such as Norland Place School in London, who as part of British Food Fortnight, invited a local butcher to come in and talk to the children. He demonstrated how to make beef burgers and kebabs and the children then hosted their very own British barbecue. Alternatively, many farms welcome school visits and can structure the tour to fit in with the relevant curriculum subject.

For a list of farms open to school visits [click here]