Today I hosted a visit for the Class 1 children from Ebrington (St James and Ebrington Church of England Primary School), it was an absolute pleasure to welcome the children and staff on to the farm. We had such a lovely day. After the health and safety talk we went for a walk along the tramlines of the wheat field. As the children walked along they let their hands run through the wheat ears which felt sticky and softer than they expected. Once we reached the far hedge we discussed evidence of badgers on the farm, later we saw the badger latrine and could see the seeds in the poo!

The children were very enthusiastic in the pond dipping session and found lots of baby newts, dragon fly nymphs and water boatmen. Although there weren’t many dragon flies whizzing through the air, there were plenty of butterflies for us to spot. 

At lunch time, the majority of the children decided to sit on my picnic logs amongst the daisies, which was very pleasant and relaxing. After lunch the children really enjoyed the mud in the playwood! 

The weather was perfect today for dragon fly spotting. The very lovely Class 1 children from St James school in Chipping Campden were a very enthusiastic group, which made my job all the more fun. After the health and safety talk we decided to do a short walk to the pond, where the children found some great pond creatures. Our aim was to find the dragon fly nymphs lurking in the water, of which there were many. One girl found a really big newt and a boy found the first water scorpion of the pond dipping year. It was all very exciting and clear to me that the children were used to handling minibeasts as they asked to hold them. 

At the point of the weather being too hot, we went into the shade of the wood and saw the habitats of the farm chickens and pigs. The children had lots of great pig questions. After lunch we went back into the shade of the trees. Some of the children picked up cones and stuck feathers into them. A simple but very effective idea. 

Today Year 1 from Sedgeberrow C of E School enjoyed looking at the wheat on the farm. First we looked at an example of ripe wheat in the classroom, they then looked at seeds and finally flour. After snack the children ground some wheat seeds with a pepper mill and could see the flour inside. We then took a walk in the wheat field and they loved running along the tram lines. They then picked some grass plants which have gone to seed just as the wheat has done.

The other half of the morning was spent thinking about fairy tales and in particular the story of the ugly duckling. We thought about the ‘ugly’ dragon fly nymph turning into a beautiful dragonfly. This week has seen the first sightings of this years dragon flies. The pond dipping was great fun….if a little hot!   

I have had a lovely week with all the Year 1 children from Bengeworth Academy. Our topic this week has been castles. The children recently visited Warwick Castle and told me lots of things about their trip. In addition to what they learnt at the castle, I was able to tell them about the food that people would eat in a medieval castle.

Having spent a cold January day on the farm, it was lovely to welcome back some of the Year Ones from Cropthorne-With-Charlton school to see the farm in the sunshine. The topic of the day was life cycles. The children learnt the name of a dad cow, mum cow and baby cow. Whilst on the farm walk we saw this years spring born calves. We also discussed some creatures born on the farm which don’t look like their parents.