AN appeal for help has been made by Kingsmead School, Wiveliscombe, to revamp its school farm as part of a new land-based studies course.

The non-exam course for pupils in years 10 and 11, which has a focus on outdoor activities, was previously the agriculture and animal care studies curriculum.

Chickens kept on the farm in Kingsmead School, Wivesliscombe.
Chickens kept on the farm in Kingsmead School, Wivesliscombe. (Kingsmead School)

But Kingsmead was unable to recruit a suitably qualified replacement tutor to deliver the course after the previous teacher left.

The school’s senior leadership team therefore decided to withdraw the animal care course as part of the key stage four curriculum.

Previously, the BTEC agriculture course was withdrawn by the Edexcel examination board at the end of 2021, after which Kingsmead introduced the animal care subject.

Kingsmead teacher Jon Matthews said: “We are overhauling the school farm and students are incredibly busy keeping the animals.

“Applied learning courses are not funded from the national curriculum, but from the school’s own budget.

“Therefore, each department’s allocation is inevitably very small.

“We have to rely on the goodwill of others to make it work.

Some of the animals kept on the farm in Kingsmead Schoo, Wiveliscombe.
Some of the animals kept on the farm in Kingsmead Schoo, Wiveliscombe. (Kingsmead School)

“At present, the students are using our staff’s own maintenance equipment, so the parent-teacher association is looking at the purchase of a rotavator for us.

“Support from parents would be very welcome.

“As winter is approaching we are in need of some hay and straw, initially.

“We will need around 10 small bales of hay and 10 small bales of straw, not round bales.

“More would be great but we are limited to space for storing it, unfortunately.”

Head of applied learning Jenny Mathias said in a letter to parents: “This is a non-exam course that the school believe will benefit your child in a variety of topics should they wish to pursue a career and further education in agriculture/horticulture/animal management.”

Kingsmead serves a large countryside catchment area with many of its pupils coming from a rural background and growing up surrounded by agricultural activity, which is a large employment sector across Somerset.

Anybody who may be able to help with the revamp of Kingsmead's farm should email [email protected].