Children Welcome Countryside into the Classroom - New Workshop to Teach Children about Biodiversity on Organic Farms - (From Your Local Guardian)

Children Welcome Countryside into the Classroom - New Workshop to Teach Children about Biodiversity on Organic Farms -

12:45pm Wednesday 8th February 2012 in Sutton

Local children from Westbourne Primary School in Sutton welcomed the countryside into their classroom recently, when they took part in a new winter education initiative aimed at teaching them all about the wildlife on organic farms. Run by the Organic Milk Cooperative (OMSCo), the interactive winter workshop allowed the youngsters to have fun learning about the many bugs, bats and birds that make an organic farm their home.

The session, led by OMSCo’s wildlife expert, Finlay McLaren, kicked off with a specially created short film showing a day in the life of an organic dairy farmer, followed by a discussion about the many benefits of organic farming. The children then got stuck into some farmyard fun, making their very own hedgerow wall frieze complete with lots of the wildlife that thrives in organic hedgerows. The workshop finished on a batty note, with Finlay showing the class how to make a bat box that will be put up on an organic farm this spring, as part of OMSCo’s 2012 Year of the Bat campaign.

Finlay comments: “The kids loved the hands-on elements of the workshop, with activities including creating colourful birds, bugs and bats to go on the hedgerow frieze - we hope it will help them to really engage with conservation issues. The new initiative has also been developed as a way to reach areas such as Greater London, where it is difficult to get the children out on to a local farm.” Amanda Kearsey, from Westbourne Primary School adds: The workshop was a big hit, especially the hedgerow frieze, and they learnt loads about why hedgerows are important and what makes hedges on organic dairy farms so special. We’re all hoping we can visit an organic farm this spring to put up our bat boxes.”

The winter workshops came about following the huge success of OMSCo’s Hedgerow Safari programme, which ran last Spring/Summer across organic farms all over the country, and saw primary school children getting out onto organic farms for an exciting journey of exploration along organic hedgerows. Finlay comments: “The safaris really struck a cord with adults and children alike. They loved the experience of being on farm learning about why organic hedgerows are such important habitats. We wanted to build on this and create an education programme to run during the winter months when there isn’t as much to see in the hedges.”

For more information or to book a Winter Workshop for your local school visit www.teach-organic.org.uk or contact Gill Crane on 07920 057377.

- Ends - For more information, images or to set up an interview please contact: Abby Richardson on 07876 378 733 / abby@freshcommunication.co.uk or Kate Kerss on 07771 658 172 / kate@katekersspr.co.uk) Notes to Editors: About OMSCo • OMSCo was formed in 1994 when five like-minded organic dairy farmers joined forces to sell their organic milk. Now with around 400 members and supplying the majority of the organic milk in mainland UK, OMSCo is the largest and longest established UK organic milk supplier. The OMSCo ‘splash’ logo is present on milk cartons containing its milk and OMSCo supplies some of the UK’s largest food retailers and producers including Sainsbury’s, Rachel’s Organic, Yeo Valley Organic, Tesco and MacDonald’s.

Based on information supplied by Kate Kerss.