Food, farming and the environment

A new course making use of the farm at Thornham

Key Stage 1

Sheep dog game after looking at the sheep in the field, each team (with an adult) has a sheep dog name such as "Rover" and "rounds up" pictures of sheep around the field to put them in a "pen".  On the way discovering interesting facts about sheep.

Farm Trail  we look at the farm pond and find out what wild life uses it.  We then find out something about farm land birds, which ones live at Thornham, includes a picture counting game.  We watch the cows and find out about male, female and the offspring of farm animals.

What do we eat?  a game where the children, in teams, collect pictures of animals and plants and match them with the food we eat.

The plants growing at Thornham we look at the Thornham crops and find out why they are grown and why other crops are not grown.  Includes a short walk to an area specially planted for us by the Thornham farmer which displays the different crops he grows. 

Key Stage 2

What grows at Thornham?  We look at maps of the farm and find out what lives and grows at Thornham.  We have information from a data sheet and we go and find out more about it.  We discover what the old farm buildings are now used for.  Follow a farm trail and we stop do activities at the stream, looking at soil and thinking about why we need fertilisers and pesticides as we find out about pests and diseases.  Which minibeasts live on the farm.  How do we attract wildlife to the farm?  Can we spot any farm land birds?

We have an area specially planted for us by the Thornham farmer which displays the different crops he grows.  This is not far from our main buildings and enables us to see the variety of crops without having to walk huge distances to find them.

Fair Trade We can find out about Fair Trade, comparing how sugar beet is produced and processed in the UK with sugar grown in India.  We look at how Fair Trade protects crops and how Oxfam helps.