Cronkshaw Fold Farm

Our High school visits give students a chance to look round a real farm, see the farm animals and learn firsthand about the importance of the countryside for growing food and providing habitats for wildlife. 

 

You can mix and match the learning topics you would like to cover on your visit - We can cover one topic in detail, or 2 (on a full day visit) more briefly. You can choose what would be best for you and your students in relation to your learning objectives and how much information you feel your students can absorb. We strongly encourage hands on learning activities for all students. We have several farm buildings which provide shelter and undercover areas should the weather turn. We also have a classroom environment with toileting and hand washing facilities where students can eat their lunch. Tea and coffee making facilities along with a microwave are accessible free of charge for teachers and helpers should you wish to make yourself a hot drink at lunch time. Several areas of the farm can be accessed by wheelchair, though sadly not our woodland or kitchen gardens (yet!). If you have wheelchair users, feel free to call us and you can discuss your specific needs with us.

 

Below are some of the topics we can cover at KS3 and KS4 (GSCE) level. Visit us here at the farm or we can come to you in School.

 

Biology

 

Living organisms:  Learn about sheep and chicken skeletons. See real sheep and chicken bones, learn about the life cycle of sheep and laying hens then disect an old chicken* (which no longer lays eggs). 

 

*No animals at Cronkshaw Fold are bred for disection. All birds used for disection have lived full lives as free range laying hens, producing eggs for selling. Only elderly hens are used for disection. These birds have been bred, kept and killed in line with the RSPCA 'Five Freedoms' philosophy.

 

Nutrition, digestion & excretion: Learn about the four basic types of digestive system, which system different farm animals have and the different parts of each system. Learn about the different diet's of these animals, and how the animals diet indicates which digestive system it has.

 

Ecosystems and habitats: Learn about foodchains on the farm where domestic and wild animals are linked together and how farmers can manage preditor-prey relationships to their advantage including the use of the companion planting method. Visit the many different habitats on the farm (bogs, deciduous woodland, grazed pasture, hedgerows and moorland) and learn about the wildlife ecosystem that relay on these habitats to survive. Visit our kitchen gardens to see how we use crop rotation with Leguminous plants to fix Nitrogen into the soil, and why doing so is important.

 

Humans and the environment: Learn about food miles and how they relate to the different products you eat. Find out which foods can be grown here on the farm at which times of year and discover how the seasonality of food can influence your diet's food miles. Visit our Kitchen gardens, poly tunnels, chickens and other animals which provide food to the local community. Find out what food you can grow at school or on a window sill at home. Discover the possibilities of Guerrilla gardening through organisations such as Incredible Edible and how the decisions you make with regards to what you eat can effect the environment. Discover the pro's and con's of common pesticides, and what natural alternatives can be used on the farm.

 

 

 

Food Technology: Meet the livestock on the farm and learn about how culture and society shape our views of food. Learn how we use different marketing strategies to sell less common meats such as goat and rabbit. See the seasonal foods we grow at the farm, both cultivated and wild, and learn about how eating locally reduces food miles and the carbon footprint of produce. Visit the hen house and learn about the process of producing eggs - starting with day old chicks through to what happens to the old hens once they have stopped laying. Depending on the season you can see chicks, pullets ('teenage' hens), laying birds and elderly hens. What does it mean to be a vegetarian or vegan? How does that effect the environment and farming practices? Learn about our unusual practice of not labelling our egg boxes, and why it works for us and our customers. Visit our kitchen gardens, poly tunnels, chickens and other animals which provide food to the local community. Find out what food you can grow at school or on a window sill at home, and what meals you can put them in. Make your own cheese or butter using milk from our next door farm, then pick herbs from our gardens to flavour your own cheese. Discover the possibilities of Guerrilla gardening through organisations such as Incredible Edible and how the decisions you make with regards to what you eat can effect the farming industry and countryside at large.

 

 

 

Physical Geography

 

weather and climate: Learn about climate, weather and cloud types and their effects on the farm, the different seasonal jobs here which are dictated by weather patterns and the different climate characteristics required to carry out seasonal farm jobs such as Hedge laying, muck spreading, hay making and harvesting.

 

Ecosystems: Visit our deciduous woodland and learn about how the climate here suits the flaura and fauna present here. Learn to ID the different specieis of trees, plants, insects and animals that live here through study of leaf shapes, bark texture, animal tracks and other clues. Find out how the various life forms within the food chain link together and how we, as humans at the top of the food chain, influence this ecosystem.

 

Sustainablity and conservation: Learn about the importance of sustainable food production and how farmers can produce food, care for wildlife and act as stewards of the countryside. Look at the methods we have in place on our farm in order to be more sustainable. Discover how our sustainable farming practices tie in with conservation efforts in our Valley and learn about how our population of wild birds such as Swallows, Tawny owls and Lapwings have subsequently increased. 
 

 

 

Maths

Bring maths to life by visitng the farm and learning about the finances behind egg production - a simple, visual way to get students thinking about how maths is used in everyday life. Learn where we get our chicks from and how much the different options cost. Which is the cheapest? Which is the most expensive? Why? Calculate how much food each chicken costs by finding out its daily food intake at various stages of growth from chick, to pullet to laying bird. How much does it cost to maintain the hen house and surroundings? Finally, what price must the eggs be sold at in order to make a profit? Is the price you worked out the price of our eggs? If not, Why not? In what other ways can our hens here make money?

 

 

Resistant materials

Learn the art of green woodworking from its very beginnings by visiting our deciduous woodland. Learn to ID trees and discover the traditional uses of different species and how they are used as modern day materials. Learn to weave with willow and create basic furniture with simple green wood working tools such as a bow saw, shave horse, draw knife and hand drill.

 

 

 

 

 

All visiting groups who stay for a full day visit (including lunch time) have a short recycling activity after lunch, where we turn the process of separating lunch time rubbish into a game, teaching about composting and recycling rubbish along with the effects of rubbish on the environment. We weigh the non-recyclable rubbish and then divide the result by the number of visitors in your party to give a value for the grams of 'waste per person.' We then put this value next to your school name on our 'WASTE BUSTERS' league table. The school with the least non-recyclable waste receives an award from us at the end of the school year.

 

If you feel you would like to visit the farm but cannot see the topic you are interested in here please drop us an email to outline your particular interests. We will try our best to accommodate for any speciality visit suggestions.

 

We strongly encourage hands on learning activities for all students. We have several farm buildings which provide shelter and undercover activity areas should the weather turn. We also have a classroom environment with toileting and hand washing facilities where students can eat their lunch. Tea and coffee making facilities along with a microwave are accessible free of charge for teachers and helpers should you wish to make yourself a hot drink at lunch time. Several areas of the farm can be accessed by wheelchair, though sadly not our woodland or kitchen gardens (yet!) If you have wheelchair users, feel free to call us and you can discuss your specific needs with us.

 

When

 

We accept bookings year round. We offer first time teachers visiting our farm a free pre visit to meet the farm staff, have a look round and discuss any learning objectives you'd like to achieve during your visit. To request a visit please email us if you would like to arrange a pre visit or get some more information prior to submitting a booking form.

 

Prices

 

We have a minimum charge of £75 for a half day visit and £142 for a full day visit, which includes up to 6 students. There is an additional charge of £7.50 per student thereafter.