Primary schools from Lincolnshire to London have a cracking good day with Kids Country
Primary schools across Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, London and Northamptonshire have enjoyed a jam-packed day of learning about the science of eggs, farming poultry and birds within the countryside with Kids Country’s ‘Happy Chicks Day’ events delivered into schools, in partnership with sponsors Central England Co-operative, The Happy Chicks Company and Woodbine Farm.
Lesley Perry, teacher at The Priory School, Spalding, Lincolnshire said: “The children all really enjoyed the day, especially making the mini quiches with the donated eggs and being able to take their recipes home. We have hens at school so we have been able to use our newfound knowledge of different chicken breeds to go out and identify our hens. Thank you for a great day of learning and fun!”
At Stanhope Primary School, Ealing, London, Marium Hussaini said: “Thank you for delivering this event into our school; the children all really enjoyed the activities, especially blowing, decorating and cooking with the eggs, learning about the different types of birds that produce eggs, and the farmer talks were amazing too, particularly the live chat with Farmer Luke.”
Children at Stanhope Primary School, Ealing, taking part in the egg blowing activity
Colleague, Miss Sead, also said: “Being able to physically show the children the different types and sizes of eggs was a real success – they were so shocked by the size of some of them! The ‘event in a box’ concept was great and we look forward to hopefully welcoming the Kids Country team into school next time.”
Each pack, delivered within Covid-19 guidelines, contained educational videos and resources relating to chicks, chickens and alternative birds as well as physical eggs and an egg-citing competition for schools to enter with the opportunity to win gift vouchers from Co-operative Food! Schools could also take part in live video chats with farmers.
Kids Country is the educational arm of the East of England Agricultural Society – education manager, Sandra Lauridsen, said: “Our annual Happy Chicks Day is always a really popular event at the East of England Showground, and we’ve been thrilled to bring that same experience to over 200 primary school children remotely this year.”
Children at The Priory School, Spalding, make mini quiches
“We would like to say thank you again to the companies who have sponsored and donated produce and their expertise, including the Happy Chicks Company and Central England Co-operative, local poultry farmers, Waitrose Peterborough, Clarence Court Eggs and Kelly Turkeys.”
With a programme of events that usually sees East of England Showground-based Kids Country welcoming thousands of primary school children on to site, the last 12 months has presented a real challenge to deliver as many of these events as possible either remotely in schools or as part of home-schooling, ensuring that children do not miss out on the ‘field to fork’ message that lies at the heart of everything Kids Country delivers. The team have also tried to reach as many new schools as possible by supporting schools’ own topics and projects with bespoke events and resources.
Children at The Priory School with one of their chickens
“We have been really pleased to work with schools to find solutions to learning about food and farming within the National Curriculum, and this is something we are committed to continuing throughout 2021 and further,” continued Sandra. Any schools that are interested in Kids Country supporting their topics should contact Sandra on slauridsen@eastofengland.org.uk or visit www.kids-country.co.uk
A group of children at Stanhope Primary School, Ealing, enjoy the fruits of their cooking!
