Farms for City Children exists to remove the barriers that prevent children and young people having meaningful access to the natural world. Through our food, farming, and nature-connected wellbeing offer, we strive to empower the next generation to experience the physical and mental health benefits of being in the countryside, and to see themselves as the custodians of our landscape for generations to come.
During an immersive five-day residential stay on one of our stunning heritage farms in Devon, Gloucestershire and Pembrokeshire, children and young people participate in seasonal farming tasks alongside experienced farm teams and partner Farmers.
A holistic offer of outdoor education activities, with a strong focus on climate and sustainability, plus the personal and social developments made through profound connections with classmates and accompanying adults, combines with the health and wellbeing benefits of sustained physical activity and consumption of nutritious, locally produced and home-cooked food grown and prepared by the children themselves. This results in a nurtured and empowered young person, ready to return to school and home with new grit, growth mindset and a set of valuable transferable life skills.
How does it work?
Becoming a Plastic Free School takes commitment, creativity, and a serious amount of pupil power. Here’s how it works:
1. The school signs up to the programme on our website: plasticfreeschools.org.uk
2. We send them a free Plastic Free Schools welcome pack with objective cards, action plans, teachers notes and sacks and gloves for a school clean up.
3. They complete the five objectives – from making plans, to making changes, to making a noise the polluters can’t ignore.
4. They send us updates and photos of their progress.
5. We make them an official Plastic Free School and send out a plaque to be displayed proudly in the school
Why is it important?
Our aim is to free where we live from single-use plastic. The avoidable stuff that’s everywhere. Plastic bottles, sachets, takeaway containers, excessive food packaging. They’re in our schools, our playgrounds, our parks and our streets and they’re having a huge impact on our environment. But we have the power to change this, whoever we are, wherever we live and wherever we go to school.
We want to help schools say a big fat “NO” to single-use plastics. We want schools where, when it comes to helping the environment, the children will do anything but sit down and be quiet.
How do I get involved?
We need your help to make plastic the talk of the playground.
The programme is completely free and available to all UK based teachers in nursery, primary and secondary education.
Designed to hit key curriculum and other targets, this programme will support you to empower your pupils to make positive changes for the environment and your school. Sign your school up today!
What is Surfers Against Sewage?
Surfers Against Sewage is charity of water lovers campaigning to protect the ocean and all it makes possible, by taking action on the ground that triggers change from the top. For people to thrive and live life to the fullest, the ocean must thrive too. And so we need to confront all that threatens it. Plastic. Sewage. Industrial exploitation. Climate change. In building and connecting communities of Ocean Activists motivated to make a difference, we gather the evidence and give voice to the issues that hold leaders to account. Today, we’re more than surfers. It’s more than sewage. We’re here because of the ocean. Let’s fight for it.
