Home Educators from across Staffordshire are taking advantage of a new session at award-winning Lower Drayton Farm offering learning around farm-themed topics.
The sessions, which launched, last September, take place on Monday mornings and feature a mix of hands-on activities and classroom-based learning, with a variety of seasonal topics based on what’s happening on the farm at that time of year.
Past sessions have focused on everything from planting Christmas trees to measuring pumpkins, the latest farming robotic technology and learning about different animals and how to care for them. The sessions, which are formulated and led by the farm’s Education Manager, Lauren Addison, a qualified teacher, now regularly attract in excess of 30 learners and their families.
Lauren says:
“The farm offers a real wealth of learning opportunities – many of which tie into STEM topics – and our goal is to give Home Educators a hands-on experience that they can then build on with their learning at home. Each session features a ‘hands-on’ element – whether its planting seeds, picking veggies, measuring things or being out on the farmyard looking at animals as we learn about them. We then break for lunch and return to the classroom where there is usually a craft-based activity or quiz to test knowledge.
“We’ve got a lovely community of Home Educators now and we encourage the social side of things by inviting families to arrive at 10.30am before the session begins at 11am so the children can have a play while the grown-ups enjoy a cup of tea or coffee and chat. In fact, many love coming to the farm so much that they have signed up as members, which means their Home Ed sessions are included within their membership alongside admission to our PLAY@ farm attraction.”
The farm’s Home Ed sessions take place on Mondays from 11am – 1pm and are priced at £8.50pp. Forthcoming topics include World Book Day on Monday 4th March; Sowing Barley on 11th March and a reptile talk on 18th March with lambing, planting sunflowers, learning about cows, pumpkin planting and more all scheduled for after the Easter break.
The sessions take place at Lower Drayton Farm, just outside Penkridge and handily placed just 1 mile from J13 of the M6. find out more and to book, head to https://playatthefarm.co.uk/home-education-sessions/
