Fyndoune’s Learning Outside the Classroom
Learning Outside the Classroom is second nature for students at Fyndoune Community College. Pupils come to use the extensive range of facilities Fyndoune has to offer, ranging from a fully stocked agricultural farm unit, a small animal classroom, a selection of greenhouses, allotments and gardens. Students come to Fyndoune from many other schools in the area, including Durham Community Business College, Durham Johnson, and Roseberry Community Sports College, to take part in the range of rural courses the school has on offer.
A popular course is the BTEC in Horticulture. Students enrolled on this course use Fyndoune’s greenhouse, seed house, tomato house, polytunnel, raised beds, and gardening plots to enhance their studies and to carry out land based learning. They undertake tasks such as seed sowing, transplanting, cultivation, and harvesting as part of their course. They also produce bedding plants, hanging baskets and vegetables to be sold at a local farmer’s market and also in the Sacriston village carnival. We also hope to eventually have our own farm shop to sell our produce to members of staff and parents/carers.
Our students have also had the opportunity to create a miner’s garden. This was developed last year and was a huge achievement. Following its success this acitivity is to be repeated next year. This gives the students a chance to see how their grandparents/great grandparents would have managed their allotments to produce vegetables for the whole family. It’s also to show how it would have been a source of escapism from working in cramped, dark conditions. We felt that this was a highly educational experience especially in a community with such a strong mining background.
Many of our students, during their time at Fyndoune, have taken part in planting bedding plants around the community; this is to give them a sense of pride and contribution within their village. This has been a great triumph and the students have been very dedicated and are extremely proud of the flower beds they have produced.
Another course that the students from Fyndoune and other local schools have access to is the BTEC in Animal Care. This allows the students to learn animal husbandry for a variety of animals, ranging from small animals, farm livestock and exotics. They have to do various tasks such as feeding, cleaning out, grooming, first aid and egg collecting from Fyndoune’s very own brood of hens students then have to wash, and pack the eggs ready to be sold to the local community. This is a very popular option and the students enjoy taking on responsibility and many actually give up their own time at lunchtimes and after school to help care for the large selection of animals.
The farm has also had its first lot of lambs born this spring, the students get to see first hand the full life cycle of where their meat comes from, and how important it is to care and provide for the animals needs to the highest standard.
BTEC in Horse Care - Fyndoune now has its very own pony called Kendal. This allows students to get hands on experience with a horse without having to rely on visits to other colleges and livery yards. Having our own pony enables us to show students how to apply first aid, how and what to feed a pony at different times of the year, how to care for a pony in different seasons, basic grooming, hoof care, and basic husbandry.
