Learning where food comes from with Food for Life

Pupils from Kingfisher Primary School in Medway recently enjoyed a visit to a wheat farm to learn all about where their food comes from. The farm, situated near Sittingbourne, Kent, is a wheat supplier for Warburtons.

The Country Trust, alongside the farmers, coordinated and delivered a jam-packed and fun-filled day for the pupils. First, they learnt about wheat, barley, oats and rapeseed and what food and drink contain these crops.

The group then went for a walk to look at the soil to find chalk and flint, and to see the huge farm machinery in the field waiting to harvest the crops in a few weeks’ time.

The pupils were then escorted into the wheat field to learn about the wheat lifecycle, discovering that the wheat they were standing in was only planted in the Autumn and had grown so tall already. Amazingly, this entire field can be harvested in 20 minutes and supplies enough wheat for approximately 186,000 loaves of bread!

“I’m really happy to be here it’s really fun!”  said one pupil, while another shared that their "best bit of the day was going into the field and seeing all the wheat.” 

Then it was time to go back into the barn to try out milling wheat into flour, which was the favourite activity of the day for some pupils, with one remarking on the flour's texture: "the flour feels like lamb’s wool!”

The day was wrapped up by each pupil having a go at sitting in one of the big tractors, followed by a mini beast hunt to see what they could find. In the space of only a few minutes, pupils discovered moths, beetles, snails, a cricket, ladybirds, ladybird larvae, and woodlice.

Mrs Brightman, Kingfisher School’s Food for Life lead said: 

“What a fantastic school trip to Vinson Farm organised by The Country Trust and Warburtons. The children had a number of interactive activities during the day where they learnt about crops which were grown on the farm and what the crops were used for in products. They explored the wheat field, hunted for bugs and got to sit in a tractor. A big thank you to all the staff at Vinson Farm, Country Trust and Warburtons for a great learning experience.”  

Overall, the day provided pupils with a fantastic opportunity to see a real working farm in action, learning first-hand from the farmers about the crop-to-plate life cycle. This learning was then taken back to the classroom, supporting Food for Life's 'whole school approach' which sees food education embedded throughout the school experience. 

If you would like to find out more about the Food for Life Programme in Medway, contact the Local Programme Manager, Grace Dennis: gdennis@soilassociation.org.