It was the late British naturalist and writer Gerald Durrell who said that all children should be surrounded by animals and books, so he would have enjoyed seeing schools that enrich the educational experience with their own animals. These vary from full-blown zoos to a few beehives, but each institution acknowledges the many advantages that they bring.
Kingham Hill School in Oxfordshire has sheep, goats, chickens, guinea pigs, a tortoise and a Shetland pony called Finn. The school was founded in the late 19th century on the Daylesford estate and, in those days, it had its own farm. ‘We are going back to our roots,’ says Isobel Frampton, who runs this section of the school’s co-curricular offering. ‘It is not a petting farm,’ she emphasises. ‘The children have to learn about the animals’ needs. Caring for animals teaches you so much about life—commitment, consistency, reliability —and it brings so much joy. You don’t get the cuddles without learning about the rest.’
Kingham Hill provides farm clubs for all pupils at the school, which takes children from 11–18, alongside opportunities for formal qualifications in this area. In 2018, it introduced a BTEC course in Animal Manage- ment, which pupils can take alongside their GCSEs and A Levels. The course explores subjects such as animal health and welfare, as well as the ethics of keeping animals. Mrs Frampton adds: ‘Pupils who take the BTEC tend to be those who want to become vets and those who want a more practical scientific discipline.’
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة August 30, 2023 من Country Life UK.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة August 30, 2023 من Country Life UK.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
A tapestry of pinks
THE garden is now entering its season of vigour and exuberance.
Bringing the past to life
An event hosted by COUNTRY LIFE at WOW!house is one of the highlights of a programme that features some of the biggest names in interior design
This isle is full of wonder
GEOLOGY? A bit like economics, the famously boring science? I confess I suffered the prejudice—agriculture and history being my thing, both of them vital in every sense— but Robert Muir-Wood’s voyage through the past 66 million years of the making of the British landscape has biblical-level drama on almost every other page. Flood, fire, ice… or, perhaps, the formation in rock, sand, mud and lava of these isles is best conceived of as fierce poetry.
Empire protest
Without meaning to issue a clarion call for independence, E. M. Forster perfectly captured the rising tensions of the British Raj. One hundred years later, Matthew Dennison revisits the masterpiece A Passage to India
Hops and dreams
A relative of marijuana, hops were a Teutonic introduction to British brewing culture and gave rise to the original working holiday
Life and sol
The sanctuary of the Balearic Islands has enchanted a multitude of creative minds, from Robert Graves to David Bowie
'Nature is nowhere as great as in its smallest creatures'
Giving himself neck ache from constantly looking upwards, John Lewis-Stempel makes the most of a sunny May day harvesting ‘tree hay’ and marvelling at the myriad wildlife including flies and earwigs–that reside on bark
'Plans are worthless, but planning is everything'
Country houses great and small were indispensable to D-Day preparations, with electricity and sanitation, well-stocked wine cellars, countesses to run the canteens and antique furniture to feed the stoves
The darling buds of May
May Morris shared her father’s passion for flowers, embroidery and Iceland, but was much more than William’s daughter. Influential both as a designer and as a teacher, she championed the rights of workers, particularly women, as Huon Mallalieu reveals
Achilles healed
Once used to comfort the lovelorn or soothe the wounds of Greek heroes, yarrow may now have a new starring role in sustainable agriculture