A Farm in Battersea
Just after half term, our Year 7 pupils visited Farm 2 City at Providence House, a local youth club with links to Shallowford Farm in Devon. Their time coincided with a visit from HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh, who was happy to chat with the students and took time for photographs.
Following the success of the Farm 2 City event in 2018, Providence House, in collaboration with their long-term partners, The Shallowford Trust, brought the Farm to the City from Tuesday 6th to Saturday 10th June 2023.
The forecourt of Providence House became a farmyard with sheep, piglets, calves and a tractor, just yards from the back of Clapham Junction station on Falcon Road, Battersea. School pupils and youth groups were able to engage with live animals and learn of their place in the management and conservation of the land.
As well as this, inside the two-storey youth club building there was an array of hands-on educational activities to learn about the environment, climate change, conservation - and just plain fun. Supported, among others, by Wandsworth Council, Dartmoor National Park, Our Upland Commons project, Butterfly Conservation, and by Farming in Protected Landscapes, the week was both a highly visible spectacle for local people as well as an enriched learning experience.
Our Year 7 visit included 12 activities related to individual animals, farming and conservation related topics. The whole programme is risk-assessed, approved in terms of animal safety by the local veterinary services, with 24-hour care provided for the livestock.
