Learning about life on the farm

With children returning to schools across Scotland this week as the new academic year begins, Royal Highland Education Trust (RHET) hopes that schoolchildren will be able to get back to farm visits after the October break.

Katrina Barclay, the organisation’s executive officer, said that during the last year, RHET volunteers, coordinators and staff had been busy creating new teaching resources, running online events, offering digital farm visits, facilitating growing projects and also welcoming new faces to the fold.

She said that it was also hoped that farmers would be able to get back into the classrooms to tell the story of farming – and added that REHET was in the process of developing a ‘playground’ presentation should access to schools remain restricted.

Earlier in the year RHET appointed a new chair, dairy farmer Alistair Marshall from Hardgrove, Dumfries, to follow on from George Lawrie.

The new chair has worked with RHET Dumfries and Galloway since 2005 and has been on the RHET board for a few years, chairing the RHET Forum which he said gave him a real insight into the work of the education charity.

“We hosted our first farm visit in 2005 and although there have been many changes to the farm and the kids since then we always enjoy showing the schools around and getting them involved in doing some milking, there is always a few comments that make us laugh!” said Hardgrove.

“Educating the next generation about what we do is hugely important but great fun too”