Farm My School sprouts educational excursion program

THE team behind the Farm My School initiative at Bellarine Secondary College in Drysdale has launched a new education program for students ahead of Term 2.

The excursion program is open to students across all age groups, from early learning to secondary students, and provides schools with the opportunity to experience the farm and learn about the regenerative growing of food.

Farm My School co-founder James McLennan said the education program would begin with four topics – broadly based around worms, soil, pollinators and the journey from paddock to plate, respectively – each adaptable to best suit the age range of the attending group of students.

He said the sessions on soil would focus on the importance of soil for growing food.

“The healthier the soil, obviously the healthier the food, and then the healthier the people.”

Students will have the opportunity to participate in activities such as pH testing and testing carbon in the soil, as well as testing the nutrient density of food and making comparisons between produce grown at the farm and that available at a supermarket.

Farm My School’s “showcase” topic, however, is its paddock to plate program, in which students engage with ideas about place, connection to country and the Wadawurrung people and their use of the land.

“Then we look [at how] once European people arrived, it degraded the land and now how we’re actually working with the land to rejuvenate it and regenerate it,” Mr McLennan said.

Students will also help to harvest food from the farm and cook at meal with it at the end of the session.

Each session on offer across all four topics is aligned to the Victorian school curriculum and delivered by qualified educators.

Mr McLennan said the topics were chosen to be engaging.

“Every single one we’ve designed to be a really tangible experience.

“They actually get to engage with it and do something with their hands.”

He said the goal was to empower each of the program’s participants to think about how they can “make positive changes in their world”, whether they have previous experience with farms or only have space for a garden on a balcony.

The Farm My School education program has been developed with funding support from Barwon Water.

As part of the initiative’s launch, it will also select six interested local schools to participate in a session for free.

Farm My School are also preparing to publicly launch its corporate experiences offering, which enables corporate groups to engage in regenerative agriculture and horticulture and team building exercises.

To enquire about the education program, email the Farm My School team directly at [email protected] or head to farmmyschool.com