Connecting Kids With Nature

Despite a tragic initial setback, James Kiddle’s inner-city farm is helping children reconnect with the value of nature – and putting a few of them off their lunch...

I first noticed an alarming lack of knowledge about, and appreciation for, nature during a residential trip with a primary school from Openshaw, Manchester, where I was working as teaching assistant. As we travelled out of the city and into open countryside, it became apparent that nearly all the children on the coach had never seen a cow in the flesh. Most confused them with horses. When I asked one child if he knew the connection between the meat that we eat and the cows in the field, I was met with disgust – “Whatever, Sir. That’s gross!”

My own experience of childhood could hardly have been more different. I was lucky enough to have grown up in a village halfway up the Esk Valley, not far from the small fishing town of Whitby. My primary school was in the middle of the Yorkshire moors and had around 50 pupils in attendance; my entire year group had 10 children in total. This is where my love of nature grew, from grasshopper racing at breaktimes, to sneaking over the walls to go blackberry picking, and the occasional adder turning up to bask in the playground sunshine (which always started a good panic). It was idyllic, and miles away from growing up in an inner-city community.

After flirting with a career in catering, I decided to go back to university and study biology and wildlife conservation, which led to a job in Chester Zoo’s education department. However, after struggling for a year with the long, daily commute, I decided it was time to move on and found a job at Sandon Primary: an inner city school in a socially and economically disadvantaged area where there is little or no opportunity (or want) to get involved with animals and nature. I was to help create, set up and run a small farm on the school grounds, whilst developing links with the national curriculum at both key stages.

We started small at first with half a dozen chickens and ducks, but after only a few weeks the animals were attacked and killed by local teenagers. This hit the school hard as the children had become attached to the animals and couldn’t quite grasp what had happened and why.

We thought about giving up the project there and then, but I decided the death of the animals only served to illustrate the importance of the farm; the local children needed to learn to understand and empathise with nature. As we began to rebuild, the response from the community was fantastic, with donations of animals and equipment coming into school every day. Parents were insistent we should keep going, too.

We now have pigs, goats, chickens, and a wildlife pond for pond dipping. There are vegetable plots, wildlife gardens, and even a separate classroom packed full of reptiles and insects – all of which is looked after and run by the children and their parents, and used daily as part of teaching maths, literacy and science.

One of the biggest successes of the farm is the ‘Official Sandon Farmer’ certificate. To earn this title, children take part in five workshops in which they learn about a different aspect of farm work, earning a badge for each completed session. Starting with basic farm health and safety, children move on to subjects such as animal diets and animal health – in which they learn how to identify and treat a sick animal. The most popular sessions are ‘animal enrichment’ and ‘farm to plate’. In the former, children investigate ways to keep animals happy and entertained by creating toys and food-based treats – the ‘pig sack’ is a particular favourite! The latter, farm to plate, concludes with a cookery lesson in which we create an omelette from our own eggs. When children discover the origins of the food they eat, the looks of surprise are genuine.

I increasingly find that children see nature as ‘uncool’ or ‘geeky’ and instead prefer to play computer games or spend their time on social network sites. But what our city farm has taught me is that nature should be and can be for everyone, regardless of geography and background. And with a little faith and hard work, the rewards come very quickly indeed.

About the author

James Kiddle is a teaching assistant at Sandon Primary School in Meir, Stoke-on-Trent. He was previously and education officer at Chester Zoo.