New video - Bexley Academy at Jamie's Farm
To see highlights of Bexley Academy's recent visit to Jamie's Farm on youtube, click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sONkvfmJ-iA
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Jamie Feilden and The Jamie's Farm team
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Jamie's Farm News Archive
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23
AUG
2010Posted at 11:34
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05
JUL
2010Posted at 00:00
Jamie's Farm is on the move!
To view photographs of Jamie’s Farm this month, click here
It has been an extremely busy time for us at Jamie’s Farm: in the last month, not only have we moved into our new home, Hill House Farm, but we have also hosted four visits from schools from London and Manchester. It is a testament to the hard work and commitment of our staff, volunteers, friends, builders and decorators that Hill House is already feeling like an incredible place: the historic buildings, the decoration and the furniture together create a warm family home, complete with open fires and a dog under the table. It is quite amazing to take in the view from our kitchen which encompasses the tulips blooming in the garden, piglets sunbathing in pigsties, and horses and cows grazing in the fields overlooking the village of Box. The facilities, both in terms of accommodation and agriculturally, make a huge difference to the work we are able to do with the children who visit, providing the tools and the landscape in which the therapeutic aspect of our work can take place. We are thrilled that this move will allow us to provide the Jamie’s Farm experience to even more students in the next academic year.
If you need to contact us, remember that our address has now changed. Find us at Hill House Farm, Box, Wiltshire, SN13 8QA.
Visits
Bow Boys – Our second visit from this school involved nine year 10 boys who were accompanied by a year 11 mentor. He visited Jamie’s Farm last year and his teachers were so impressed by his efforts to implement positive changes on his return to school that, a year later, he was asked to mentor his younger peers through the experience. All ten children worked extremely hard throughout their week and we were impressed by their energy and enthusiasm as well as their surprising ability with a sewing machine when helping to prepare soft furnishings for the new farm. The mentoring programme was hugely successful with all children involved benefiting hugely, including the mentor himself who we look forward to working with in the future. We wish him continuing success in the construction course he is undertaking which will enable him to use some of the skills learnt here on the farm.
Manchester Creative and Media Academies - North Manchester High School for Girls, who first visited us in the summer of 2008, recently joined with North Manchester High Schools for Boys to become the Manchester Creative and Media Academies. So this spring visit was the first time year 10 students from both the schools were brought together to visit Jamie's Farm. This combination was a new model for us which worked well, as students rose to the challenge of representing their respective schools, whilst developing new relationships which allowed them to explore aspects of themselves and each other. The children took particular delight in bottle feeding our two pet lambs they named Shelby and Lennie.Lea Valley - It was with delight that we welcomed Lea Valley High school students to Hill House Farm last week: the first guests at our new home. The sun shone for the duration of the week and the group of year 7 and 8 students were bowled over by the house and its surroundings. With our livestock on our doorstep, the children were able to get their hands dirty in a wide range of farming activities and in the duration of the week made huge progress. In particular, students developed listening skills, empathy and how to deal with difficult situations calmly. The fact that the outcomes of the visit were the same, if not better, than with groups at our previous site, makes our future at Hill House even more exciting.
Farm newsThe fields around Hill House are full of new life – with lambs, calves and piglets aplenty. An exciting addition to the Jamie’s Farm team is our new Aberdeen Angus bull, Treguddick Red Evaluator. Jamie is extremely proud of his new purchase especially as he made it into the pages of both the Farmers Weekly and the Farmer’s Guardian when he won best in show at the Bristol Sales Centre! We look forward to seeing the herd develop with his genes next year. Furthermore, we have recently acquired 10 Limousin and Aberdeen Angus store cattle to graze the grass throughout the summer.
The farmyard is also developing, with the help of Doug Burcombe and Matt Carnie: the 18th century pigsties have been resurrected with new drinkers and plans are in place to create more winter housing for the pigs and cows in the modern farm buildings.
We have very excitingly received a donation from Andrew and Annette Mercer and Footdown; a land rover defender complete with roofrack and new sound system. This extra vehicle makes a huge difference to our ability to work with children, meaning we can transport them easily to different sites to give them direct access to a wide variety of farming activities. It is also extremely well branded with our logo so is a great promotional tool (as you can see in the photo above). A massive thank you from us all!
Media
Jamie’s Farm has been very well represented in the press this month, with three articles featuring our work:
The online magazine The Ecologist writes “How a stay on a farm opens the minds of disruptive kids". For the full article, click here
Growing Business, the online magazine which aims to "energise entrepreneurs" writes about the support UnLtd (a charity that supports social entrepreneurs) has offered to Jamie's Farm in the article "Finding the UK's hidden social entrepreneurs". To read it in full click here
Jamie’s Farm staff, Tish Feilden and Ruth Carney, have published an article in the journal Every Child exploring the methodology of our work at Jamie’s Farm. The journal is distributed to professionals in the education, health and social care sector and the article is available to read in full here
Fundraising
Jamie’s Farm want to say a huge thank you to the committee who organised the Spring Fling on the 19th March. The event was a great success; a delicious hog roast and dancing at the Serpentine Bar and Restaurant in Hyde Park, raising almost £6,000. Particular thanks to Benugo who generously supplied the venue for the event, and to all their staff for working so hard to ensure it went so smoothly.
To bring a group.
If you are interested in organising a visit to Jamie’s Farm we are now taking bookings from October 2010. Please email Jane Brinson, Visit Manager, to discuss availability and pricing or visit our website jamiesfarm.org.uk for more information.
All the best,
Jamie's Farm
