The charity Linking Environment and Farming (LEAF) are inviting schools to take part in their FaceTime a Farmer project following a successful pilot scheme in the East of England. The project involves arranging a FaceTime or Skype call between a farmer and a school to engage young people with the world of farming, food and the environment and to help them appreciate the work of the modern-day farmer in a high-tech industry. The farmers are all current working farmers with a passion for talking about what they do and engaging with young people. Many have experience of hosting and running school visits.
The project ideally involves a designated teacher emailing the farmer a week before the call to give the farmer questions from students to answer, or to detail areas of the national curriculum/exam specifications that are currently being covered that may relate to food, farming or the environment. During the call the farmer will talk to the class via FaceTime or Skype from a location on their farm, such as a field, barn or tractors and talk to the students. Example topic ideas include soil, animal welfare, seasons and the farm as a business. Ideally sessions are best suited to a registration or tutor time once per week/two weeks/monthly to last around 10-20 minutes, but this is flexible.
This is a brilliant opportunity to expose young people to an industry, and perhaps even a future career path, that they may not know much about. Many students, especially those living in urban areas, will have never visited a farm so this is a great change to educate them about a very different environment to what they’re used to.
If you are interested in getting your school involved, LEAF are looking to start the project in the Spring Term and are currently welcoming schools to email janet@face-online.org.uk with the following details:
- Name and address of school
- Age range
- Teacher contact name
- Teacher contact email
- Best time for the FaceTime or Skype to take place.
