80 Primary school children recently enjoyed a breakfast-focused visit to Hatton Country World in Warwick. Here’s how they got on, plus a look at what other teachers can organise on their own school visit.
On Tuesday 24th January, a big group of peckish six, seven and eight year olds from Ferncumbe Church of England School in Hatton enjoyed a healthy full English breakfast at the farm, Hatton Country World.
The visit was organised as part of National Farmhouse Breakfast Week, a nationwide campaign backed by the Home Grown Cereals Authority (HGCA). The campaign aims to raise awareness about the importance of eating breakfast, as well as where food comes from and what makes certain foods healthy.
The Hatton school group was collected by tractor and open-top trailer and transported to the farm to learn about the benefits of eating a hearty breakfast.
Pupils got to enjoy locally sourced bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, baked beans and wholemeal toast, and learn about the importance of moderation and balance in a healthy diet.
Breakfast was served by local farmers and members of the Warwickshire branch of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU).
“The NFU are pleased to encourage children to eat a good healthy breakfast,” said Rupert Inkpen, NFU branch chairman for central Warwickshire.
“Going to school having eaten a nutritious breakfast gives children many health benefits and ensures they perform well in the classroom”.
Pupils followed their breakfast with a tour of the Hatton Country World farmyard to feed and pet the animals, plus visit the guinea pig village.
Mr Pagett, a teacher from Ferncumbe School, said: “It’s so important for children to visit the farmyard at Hatton and appreciate the link between the animals they feed and the healthy food they eat.”
More at Hatton
Hatton Country World offers a number of educational workshops for Key Stage 1 and 2 pupils that link specifically to topics in the Science curriculum, like plant growth and stages of animal development.
Key Stage 1 children will learn the basics and fundamentals of a topic while Key Stage 2 children will develop a more in depth understanding of the topic through discussion and interaction.
Teachers can choose one of six topics which, depending on the length of a visit, will be combined with shows and adventure play.
The six workshops available are: caring for animals; plant growing; animal adaptation; bugs and beasties; the chicken and the egg; and the farming year.
In caring for animals, for example, children learn about the five basic things that all animals need, whether farm animals or pets at home. This is combined with feeding the animals and visiting guinea pig village.
Meanwhile, a plant growing workshop focuses on how the farm produces different crops. Children will explore the vegetable patch to learn about what is grown on the farm, and also plant something in a contained each to take back to school.
The animal adaptation and the chicken and the egg sessions both focus on living creatures; the former looks at how creatures adapt to living in different habitats, while the latter explores the changes animals go through as they age.
All Hatton Country World sessions are created with the help of FACE – Farming and Countryside Education, who are a national charity based in Warwickshire. FACE aims to help young people learn more about food and farming in a sustainable countryside.
Hatton Adventure World is open every day throughout the year (excluding Christmas Day and Boxing Day) from 10am to 5.30pm. There are packs available to teachers that contain basic worksheets geared towards each topic that can be requested at the time of booking.
For more information visit www.hattonworld.com/adventure-world.
