Dear Friends,
Autumn has been extremely busy at Jamie’s Farm with the farm hosting a varied mix of groups, really demonstrating the breadth and depth of the work that is taking place. For photograps of all the action at the farm click here.
- One of our frequent visitors, Kids Company, sent two groups of children at the end of the summer from the Treehouse, Camden consisting of children aged between 8 and 12 who are referred by their schools to attend their afterschool club. These holiday visits provided a supportive and meaningful experience to these children, complementing the existing work of KidsCo: one child commented “I learnt that I can be and do anything I want to do in life and I have to believe that I can do anything.” We look forward to forthcoming visits from Kids Co, from both their club groups at Treehouse and their pupil referral unit.
- Five 14 – 16 year olds visited from Westside school, Westminster, who work with children who have been excluded from, or are at risk of exclusion from mainstream education. Many thanks for Sarah Evans for working tirelessly to raise the funds for the visit and for accompanying the group.
- Bath City College’s Step up re-engagement programme for 16 – 18 year olds spent a day at Jamie’s Farm to help develop self esteem and build positive relationships within the group. This has been a great way for us to work with children on our doorstep and we look forward to future visits from the College.
- The RSA Academy Tipton sent their first group of children – a mixed group from year 7 – 10. The week was busy with lots of hands on farming, as well as harvesting our vast supply of apples. On the last day of the visit, the school brought down the parents of the children who had spent the week with us, who were welcomed onto the farm and we were able to celebrate their children’s individual achievements. This is a model that we hope to develop further with RSA and other schools, allowing us to work collaboratively with teachers and parents to best support the children upon their return to home and school. One teacher who accompanied the group commented about one student: "Ben often finds himself in trouble at school, he would not normally be given the opportunity to participate in school trips due to this and almost lost his place on the trip due to his poor behvaiour in the few weeks before. However he has proved everyone wrong by showing that he can act responsibly, have respect for his peers and adults, be good company, work hard and be compassionate. I think that the reason Ben has behaved so well is due to the positive attention and compliments which he would not normally get from staff at school, however Jamie's Farm has shown that if given some responsibility and trust he can act very maturly."
- Jamie’s Farm began a partnership with The Young Parents Project, Brighton, who support and train young mothers using food and nutrition. This group of mothers, aged between 21 and 25, visited the farm as part of a 12 week employment readiness course with the aim of increasing self confidence,developing leadership skills to allow them to become trainers for the organisation. Not only were our 6 mums mucking out pigs, collecting eggs and weeding in the garden – they were also looking after their children who they brought with them to the farm – 9 children aged between one month and 6! With the help of our mobile crèche we were able to provide a week of hard work, reflection and focused group sessions: upon leaving one of the mums wrote, "It was a great learning curve for me as an individual and a mother. The whole concept of Jamie's Farm is a beautiful part of life that should be incorporated into everyone's."
Next month's newsletter will feature our latest impact data and longitudinal studies of the early visitors to Jamie's Farm.
Book a visit
We are currently taking bookings for Spring and Summer 2011, if you are interested in bringing a group to Jamie's Farm please email Lucy (lucy@jamiesfarm.org.uk) and click here for our School Information Pack.
Bexley Academy and the BBC, November 22nd BBC1
Bexley Business Academy's visit to Jamie's Farm earlier in the year has been documented by the BBC. BBC Inside Out West are in the final stages of editing a 10 minute report which will be broadcast in SW and London on 22nd November.
Hill House Farm
The site at Hill House Farm continues to blossom with time as we have now been here for six months. The completion of the renovation of our cow byres means that our core staff team is now living onsite, and the work has now begun to convert our threshing barn into art rooms, an office and a beautiful space for teacher training, parent visits and performances. To date the Department for Health (through the Social Investment Business) has already provided a grant which will cover 50% of the costs. We are currently seeking funds to complete this important phase of the build, in order that we have adequate space to work with different kinds of groups. For more information, please contact Ruth Carney (ruth@jamiesfarm.org.uk).
Farm News
After the sad death of our trusted horse Robbie in the summer, we have invested in River, a 15.1hh Thoroughbred cross Welsh. Working with the horses on the ground and riding, Tish explores issues around confidence, security, the search appropriate use of power and control, trust, compassion and nurture. Our experience shows children learn in an unthreatening way to confront the impact of their behaviour and find new ways that can translate from experience with the horses to peers and the group. In order to develop this work further we have gratefully received a grant from the Ryvoan Trust to enable us to build an all weather arena and stables onsite. Many thanks!
Our poultry section has expanded with fine new additions of Rhode Island Red, blue maran, Plymouth rock and speckled Sussex - for whom we are currently building a new complex of chicken coops with the visiting children. Our cattle are currently recovering after a slightly raucous TB test, involving young heifers who managed to escape as the vet was administering the test. Local farmer, Chris Quicke heroically stepped in to save the day from one steer who was particularly determined to make a bid for freedom! We are also pleased to welcome our border terrier/jack russell pup, Piglet, who the team surprised Jamie with on his birthday!
Fundraising
Jamie’s Farm Christmas Bash – 4thDecember, University of London Rowing Club, Chiswick
Dust off your tinsel and bailer twine and join us for a “farmyard chic” black tie event. For more information and to order tickets visit our microsite by clicking here.
If you've been to a Jamie's Farm event before you will know that it's going to be an amazing party with lots of Christmas cheer and maybe a few surprises! So bring yourselves and some friends and help us celebrate!
Bath Half Marathon, March 13th2011
After raising over £10,000 with 36 runners in the Bath Half Marathon last year, Jamie’s Farm have set an ambitious target to have a team of 100 running next year. If you are up for the physical challenge, as well as raising much needed funds for Jamie’s Farm. We will support with training advice, a pre race pasta party at Hill House Farm and much sought after Jamie’s Farm T shirts. With general public entry already full, our Golden Bond entries and corporate teams are your only chance to compete. For more information email Jane (jane@jamiesfarm.org.uk). Spaces will be running out soon so make sure you don’t miss out!
Music at Jamie’s Farm
With Lucy Moorehead joining the team, we are hoping to start to incorporate music into visits and support the work we do. This is a plea for any instruments you might have lying around unused and unloved. Any donations would be hugely appreciated. Our big goal is to try and have a piano at the farm for the children to play on. If you would be able to help with this please get in touch with Lucy on 07971 316 554 or at lucy@jamiesfarm.org.uk. Many thanks in advance.
Thanks
Many thanks to the Ray Harris Charitable Trust, the Bowland Charitable Trust for their donations over the summer, and to the Tudor Trust for their support towards staff salaries at Jamie’s Farm. A special thanks also to King Edwards School who raised £1232.08 to buy our Jersey calves. Thanks also to the Westonbirt School for their collection which raised £150 and for their continued support, and to the Bath Philharmonic Orchestra whose collection raised a total of £449.50. We are enormously grateful for the support of the many individuals who devote time and money to the work of Jamie's Farm.
Staff
At Jamie’s Farm we are excited that the team is growing as the number of children we work with increases. We would like to warmly welcome three new staff members to the team:
- Lucy Moorehead has joined Jamie’s Farm after 4 years teaching music in St Marylebone Secondary School in Central London. Lucy also trained with the Teach First programme and has taught music in prison and pupil referral units. She joins us in the full time role of Visit Co-ordinator so if you are interested in booking a visit please email lucy@jamiesfarm.org.uk
- Jonny Sobczyk joins us from the Teach First programme, having taught in Bow School for Maths and Computing. He is a familiar face at Jamie’s Farm, having brought several visits of children from his school in East London. He will be working with us two weeks a month and in particular will be working on our website and more fully documenting visits to Jamie's Farm.
- Doug Burcombe, husband of our housekeeper Kay, will be joining us to support us on the farm – with key areas of expertise including building, mechanics and work with livestock.
All the best,
The Jamie's Farm team
