The Country Trust’s Farm in a Box: Providing the educational ingredients for children to thrive in challenging times

By
Katrina Rowe
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The County Trust’s Farm in a Box delivers unique and essential learning opportunities  to children who have missed out most due to COVID-19 

  • Created by The Country Trust together with teachers and farmers, Farm in a Box forges real connections between primary school children, food, farming and the countryside.
  • Farm in a Box is designed to support teachers to re-engage children with learning, develop confidence, and feel a stronger connection to their world and their place in it .  
  • The Country Trust is calling for Farm in a Box and farm-centred learning to be part of a ‘year of opportunity for children’   

Education charity The Country Trust has four decades of experience in creating opportunities for disadvantaged children to find ‘joy in finding out’ and has now worked with teachers and farmers to develop Farm in a Box, an innovative new way to create encounters with food and farming learning, despite Covid-19 restrictions.  

Handcrafted by experienced Country Trust Coordinators and local farmers, the boxes are filled with exciting resources – farm produce to taste, seeds to touch and plant, activities, challenges and experiments for pupils to try as part of their Farm in a Box day. Teachers lead the activities but where technology allows, the children meet their farmer via a live link to share their excitement and ask questions.
Each box is based on a real working farm and accompanied by a short film in which the host farmer welcomes the class and takes them on a virtual tour of his or her farm.  
“The children loved the video, seeing Farmer Michael in his field and finding out what he was doing that morning. It brought the farm alive and now the children really want to visit the farm.” Teacher, Alderman Payne primary school
As of December 2020, Country Trust delivered 67 separate Farm in a Box experiences to 2,161 children. The charity moved to Farm in a Box Online during Lockdown 3 but is already building an order list for Farm in a Box for the summer term having received rave reviews from teachers, pupils and farmers. 
“The whole day was brilliant, totally worth doing. The children loved it and we’ve received lots of positive comments from parents, who heard from the children how much fun they had doing FIAB. We (school) want to do Farm in a Box every year and get different activities each time!” Teacher, Alderman Payne primary school
In normal times, The Country Trust runs food and farming programmes for primary schools with a high percentage of children eligible for Free School Meals, schools and groups providing for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEN/D), young carers, vulnerable and refugee children. Farm Discovery visits to real working farms are at the heart of their mission to help children learn, grow and thrive. With the restrictions of the pandemic The Country Trust team knew they had to find a new way to respond. Jill Attenborough, CEO of The Country Trust said, “We surveyed our partner  teachers during lockdown to find out what they felt was going to be needed as and when their pupils returned to school. Their priorities were clear – maths and literacy, but also emotional and physical wellbeing, language and communication, social skills and time outdoors. So this gave us our blueprint for Farm in a Box. “ Research published during the pandemic has revealed that 253,000 children in England have no access to outdoor space, a number that is noticeably skewed towards BAME children and those living in poverty.

Opportunities and experiences are a vital part of developing the skills for future success and none more so than those which connect us to food and the land that sustains us. The Country Trust is advocating that food, farming and countryside experiences should be included as a vital part of the catch up strategy and that government support must be sustained and targeted where it is most needed – disadvantaged children. 

In her final speech as Children’s Commissioner Anne Longfield called for a year of opportunity for disadvantaged children ‘Enabling every child, from whatever background, not just to learn in the classroom but to develop their own interest. Finding joy in finding out, with confidence and resilience by forging their own path.’
 Ms. Attenborough said, “We think food and farming opportunities and experiences are vital for all children, but especially those who have suffered disproportionately over the last year. They open a window onto a myriad of possibilities- a chance to find the spark for future interest as well as an amazing opportunity to develop language, communication, confidence and resilience. We all need to feel connected, and we all need to know that our actions matter.

 She continued:“The Country Trust is ready to be part of the huge and sustained effort that’s needed to address the challenges brought about by the pandemic. With Farm in a Box, and later our wider programmes, we can bring rich opportunities and experiences – vital for developing emotional, intellectual and social skills and for building self-confidence and self-esteem – to the children most in need.”

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