Giving children the opportunity to learn about farming and food growing is an important part of their education. Resources here include information about farm visits and setting up growing projects in schools.

Visiting school gardens or veg patches is a great way to get children more interested in food and to engage them in learning, team work, exercise and confidence building – and most kids love getting their hands dirty!

Growing fruit and vegetables provides wonderful learning opportunities and can link into many areas of the school curriculum such as science, PSHE, numeracy and history. However, while schools often have the space for establishing a garden or veg patch, sometimes it is difficult to find the time in a tightly packed school day or the budget to get it up and running. But it doesn’t have to be expensive or overly time consuming – there are lots of ways to get help and support, including resources on getting started growing or fun and educational ways to link gardening to learning.

Top resources for growing projects in schools

• Harvest’s page for schools includes a collection of information and resources.
• Farming and Countryside Education (FACE) aims to educate children and young people about food and farming in a sustainable countryside. They offer training for teachers, farm visits and lots of resources and activities for schools on their website.
• Garden Organic has some great resources on starting and planning a school garden, including how to link it to the curriculum (see Teaching Zone), as well downloadable activity sheets and games for the garden, including practical topics such as how to build a raised bed (see Activity sheets).
• RHS Campaign for School Gardening, a website full of practical resources to help you get gardening in your school.
• The School Vegetable Patch contains a gardening calendar and month-to-month tips, links to curriculum, help with choosing what to grow and much more.

Find more links and information on our resources page or contact us with any questions.

Farm Educational Visits

Visiting a farm is a great way to learn about food, where it comes from and how it comes to arrive on our plates! The Food Partnership can help put schools in touch with farms who can host a visit. If your school is interested please contact us.

Plumpton College also hosts educational visits for schools, which may be useful if you are interest in teaching about food growing. Download the guide (PDF 1.2mb) for more information or go to the the schools section of the Plumpton website.