Winsley Primary School Farm Visit

We were approached by Winsley Primary School in June this year as they wanted to take their pupils on their first school trip since the pandemic but had no means of transporting them.

Monkton agreed to find drivers and minibuses to transport the group of 28 pupils and their teachers to a local farm for an outdoor education day. 

As with all our partnership work, we see this as a step in the long-term relationship we are building with local schools and organisations, for the benefit of both pupils and staff.

Aims

In the first instance, this partnership case study is about being part of a practical solution that will enable children in our local area to experience an outdoor learning opportunity. The aim is to make possible a trip that would otherwise need to be cancelled.

However, it is also part of a bigger picture of developing a constructive and growing partnership relationship with Winsley School and also with this local farm where there is a wealth of overlap in terms of the work we are doing at Monkton to better care for the natural environment and manage our site so that it benefits others and supports our conservation goals. 

Background

We were approached by the organiser of the trip in June 2021.

Resources

It involves the use of 3 minibuses and staff members to drive them over one morning. 

We plan for it to lead to staff training for Winsley teachers so that in future they can borrow minibuses at times when they are not in use by Monkton, making possible a wider range of school trips.

Impact

28 pupils from year 1 will go on the first school trip they have been on since the pandemic. They will learn about how a farm works, key conservation ideas and experience learning outside for a day. 

The class teacher emailed with this response:

"This is incredible! Thank you all so much. I told the children today and they said it's a proper trip because they are going on a bus! This is the first trip we've been able to do for all of my class and so we are really overwhelmed by the support from Monkton! Thank you so much from a very excited Butterfly class." 

Pupil Involvement

28 year 1 pupils from Winsley Primary

Frequency

This is the first involvement of this kind that we have had with Winsley Primary and the farm, but we hope it will lead to a wide range of initiatives in the coming months.