NORTON COLLEGE

Pictures of our pigs being fed and weighed

Students sowing the herb seeds

Other research with recipes is being worked on and taste trials will begin very soon

Farming in the city……………………Ripley Farm

Our farm, situated on the school site, has been a part school life at Ripley St Thomas since 1864. We are fortunate to have a very large Victorian walled garden, cattle, sheep, hens and pigs, a small fruit garden, a large expanse of grazing land and purpose built changing facilities for pupils. The farm is managed by our Head of Agriculture and Horticulture, three teaching staff and a farm and garden technician.


All pupils study Agriculture and Horticulture in years 7, 8 and 9, with an option to continue to GCSE. They learn how to care for the animals, how to plant and grow crops and vegetables and they explore the issues around farming and sustainability. Pupils greatly enjoy caring for the lambs in particular – they watch the lambing either as it happens during the day or via a web camera link on the school web site. Keen pupils regularly arrive early each day to feed orphaned lambs. GCSE pupils are able to trial different methods of animal husbandry and grow a range of staple crops as a focus for coursework. Pupils are also, in greenhouses, exploring hydroponics as an alternative method of growing food.



There are growing links with Food Technology too; students studying A level Food who have to create a locally produced meal as part of their coursework now source their ingredients from the farm.






Ripley St Thomas is an 11-18 Church of England High School in Lancaster with 1600 pupils on roll. The school, graded Outstanding in 2008, is a designated Language College, Technology College, Training School and RAPP school. It has recently gained Rural Dimension accreditation.

Thomas Alleyne's High School - Welcome to our farm...

Thomas Alleyne's Community farm has its own heard of Pedigree Tamworth pigs. For the sausages we will be choosing the best offspring from our boar Rocky who we bred ourselves, and our best sow Rosie who was purchased from the Marquis of Salisbury (President of the Pig Breeders Association). Pupils are taking responsibility for all stages of the process from caring for the pigs to the final production of the sausage - which we hope will be something special.

Thomas Alleyne's High School
Dove Bank
Uttoxeter
Staffordshire
ST14 8DU
TEL: 01889 561820
FAX: 01889 561850
Contact: Martin Wedgwood This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Oathall Community College Farm & Gardens
Sausages have been produced on our college site since early 1941, when the grounds of the then
Haywards Heath County Secondary School were used as a base to demonstrate new techniques to local farmers and growers during the war years.

Students collected acorns from local woodland to supplement the diet of swill from the school kitchens.

On our school farm we keep between six and eight sows who each farrow twice a year mated by either a large White or Hampshire boar.

The sows spend much of their pregnancy out of doors using their strong snouts to plough up each one of our paddocks in turn.

All stock tasks relating to pig keeping, including, vaccinations, iron injections, teeth clipping, worming, washing, treating for mange, feeding weighting and cleaning out are carried out by students aged 11- 16.

Several local schools send students to us in years 10 and 11 for one day per week on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. Part of their vocational course time is spent on pig husbandry
The students work on a rota basis under the supervision of either Farm Technician - Sean Cassam or teacher and farm Manager – Howard Wood.
Several local schools send students to us in years 10 and 11 for one day per week on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. Part of their vocational course time is spent on pig husbandry

In addition we have a thriving Young Farmers Club with over 100 members of which over 60 students work on the farm before and after school, at weekends and during the holidays.
Our customers include parents, local residents, our school kitchen

Sausage-making

Sausage-tasting

Our pork pigs were supplied to a School Catering Company for dinners in West Sussex Schools

We sometimes sell whole sides of pork for people to make their own home produced sausages, bacon and ham.

We also market chipolatas at all times of the year – popular with children

We have now the go ahead to equip our farm shop and will produce an extended range of produce especially speciality sausages .