NFU Education was spreading the word on food and farming, and their current primary school competition, during an action-packed visit to a school in Leeds. Last month the NFU Education team hosted a Farmvention Taster Day at Lawns Park Primary School in Leeds. Sixty pupils from the school welcomed local MP Rachel Reeves into their classrooms during a special day of fun and practical food and farming workshops linked to our STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) competition- Farmvention.
Firstly, the children completed an ‘ag-bot’ (agricultural robot) workshop which developed their coding skills by asking them to program Botley, the screen-free coding robot, to herd some golf-ball sheep into a barn. Then they completed a chicken-themed chemistry investigation which challenged them to find out which combination of liquids and solids would react to create enough gas to inflate a rubber glove and make their conical flask look like a happy hen’s head and comb! Finally, with the help of Fun Kitchen, they completed a Food Technology workshop where they made their own carrot and oat muffins using British produce.
Rachel Reeves (MP for Leeds West and chair of the BEIS committee) attended the day and she told us: 'It’s so important that children understand where food comes from and how it gets onto our plate. Farmvention is all about explaining that process and talking about sustainable food and farming, while also highlighting the technology and skills harnessed by the farming industry. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit today, meeting so many keen and enthusiastic pupils who were really making the most of this learning opportunity.'
Headteacher, Mrs Rebecca Ford, said the day had been a real success: 'Today there has been a real buzz in the school. Pupils have been excited, engaged and there have been lots of ‘wow’ moments. It is a great start to our work as a school on our entry for the Farmvention competition.'
Remember, if you are entering for Farmvention, the closing date is 21st December 2018.
