The working farm at Bedales is a fundamental and much-loved part of school life, offering learning opportunities for students at every stage of their learning journey, from Pre-prep to Senior. The Spring term always brings a flurry of activity to the farm and this year has been no different, with lambing season in full swing and five new piglets from our Berkshire sow, Bessie. Not to be outdone, our Pygmy goats have also been awaiting new arrivals of their own – and the first of three sets of twins made their entrance into the world on Easter Sunday!

With the farm only a short walk away from the Pre-prep, children always love visiting the farm to see the animals. More than just fun outings, these visits are experiences that nurture children’s budding knowledge, bringing their learning to life in an engaging and memorable way.

This term, the arrival of new life on the farm has given the children the opportunity to observe lifecycle stages of lambs and piglets first-hand. They’ve noticed developmental changes at each visit, and heard from staff at the farm how postnatal mothers tend to their young and how human helpers, at the farm support them. They’ve helped feed them, watched them being weighed, and observed as the animals have outgrown their initial home in the farm’s ‘maternity suite’ (otherwise known as the Black Barn) and moved out into the field (lambs) or woods (piglets). Direct observation like this helps to make abstract concepts more concrete in the minds of our students, so they can develop an understanding of the natural world. 

The farm also adds an extra dimension to the students’ learning enquiries. Students investigating habitats as part of their enquiry on the endangered snow leopard in the first half of the term observed the real-world habitats of animals on the farm, comparing it to the habitats of not only snow leopards, but other animals. Other students, who wrote their own haikus about nature in the second half of the term, were inspired by seasonal changes, including those on the farm. 

While opportunities to get involved in animal husbandry increase as students progress through the school, children at the Pre-prep have an early introduction through activities like incubating hen’s eggs, as Year 2 did earlier this term. The students observed the journey from embryonic development to hatching, giving them insight into the care and responsibility needed to nurture life (and laying the foundation for future involvement in activities like lambing!)
 
Outdoor learning plays a key role in our distinctive educational ethos, which can be traced back to Bedales’ founding, when Outdoor Work was introduced as a core curriculum offering. Over 130 years later, it remains integral to our holistic approach. The embodiment of ‘hand’ in Badley’s belief in educating ‘head, hand and heart’, outdoor learning provides clear benefits for every aspects of a child’s development – intellectual, creative, emotional, social and physical.