Jamie’s Farm uniquely combines farming, family and therapy into a 5-day residential with a focus on giving children time and space to reflect, to renew and determine a new path for themselves. We do this by creating an environment where they feel respected, and are given opportunities to display their talents and show responsibility.
The farm environment is homely and cosy, steering away from the institutional set up of school and instead encourages togetherness and an escape from the challenges of normal life. On day one, all mobile phones and electronics are handed in, to ensure there is real distance from pressures at home. In small groups of 10-12, children live and work on site, supported by our experienced staff who focus activities on positive and tangible outcomes.
A visit to Jamie’s Farm does not end when young people leave. Alongside our core components of farming, family and therapy is our Legacy strand. Through this, we support schools and students when they return, to embed the changes and achieve a greater long-term impact.
At Jamie’s Farm we seek to run exemplar livestock farms where happy animals can be looked after by visiting children. We practise the highest standards of animal welfare and stock native breeds to ensure the quality of our livestock.
Low self-esteem is often a key trigger for students’ negative attitudes or behaviour. Nurturing animals allow pupils to show their more caring sides and become calmer, whilst giving them real farming responsibilities on a working farm provides them with enormous satisfaction and pride.
Between the farms, we have around 400 breeding ewes producing over 700 lambs per year. We have Dorset sheep that lamb in October, Suffolks lambing in January and North Country Mules in March and April. We also rear pedigree Aberdeen Angus cattle, Saddleback pigs and chickens.
Horses, goats, geese, dogs and cats are also a part of farm life. Interacting with the animals and being involved in their feedings and care encourages nurture, confidence, a sense of responsibility and achievement.
Children help to grow seasonal fruit and vegetables in our large vegetable garden, which is a valuable contribution to meal preparation. This
allows young people to get a sense of the food cycle, and how putting effort into growing and harvesting food can lead to delicious produce.
Children may visit neighbouring dairy and sheep farms, or the livestock market. This helps children to understand the social context of farming and develop trusting relationships with a range of adults.
“Being at Jamie’s Farm was the best week of my entire life. Being at Jamie’s Farm built my confidence by working with animals, especially letting PIGS bite my WELLIES.” Constance, 13
Through the ‘Family’ strand of our work, children share in each other’s successes and learn how to live in a cooperative group. They are given a loving and firm framework that enables them to succeed in challenging jobs, and a reference point of what a healthy, supportive family can look like.
At Jamie’s Farm staff and children live together, and learn to respect each other and the home in which they live. Everyone contributes to the functions of the family household.
A daily extended walk provides children with exercise and a sense of adventure as they discover the countryside. This is rewarding, as children frequently exceed their expectations of themselves.
Children also contribute by preparing meals with our trained staff. Much of our food is home grown or locally sourced. The adults and children always eat together around the table, and everyone helps to clean up afterwards.
“I feel calmer in my family now. Also, I know how hard my mum’s always working so I try and help her out.” Aidan, 15
Children are supported by therapeutically trained staff to see themselves differently and to understand better their strengths and weaknesses. Staff accompanying children to the farm have the opportunity to learn from our experienced staff which builds capacity in the education system.
Daily group work encourages children to interact appropriately with one another. According to the needs of the groups, children can set goals, and give and receive feedback.
Jamie’s Farm has a high staff to student ratio to create strong relationships and an intimate, trusting culture. One-to-one activities with our trained staff allows children to reflect and to vocalise, rather than act out, their challenges.
Working with these large, powerful, but sensitive animals allows children to confront their own parallel issues of fear, trust and attunement.
It also affords them the opportunity to form leadership roles and vocalise their own difficulties of dealing with power and control.
At Jamie’s Farm we encourage children to express themselves creatively through art, music and drama. We provide reflective, calm spaces for children to engage with creative tasks and informally share their thinking about life and home.
Bespoke follow up programmes, designed in partnership with schools, include visits by our staff as well as ideas in how to implement elements of our programme back in school. We ensure we always have open communication lines to support new ideas and overcome any challenges that may limit long-term impact.
Every Thursday morning of a visit, our School Partnership Manager meets with the Lead Teacher and Jamie’s Farm Therapy Coordinator, to look at what follow-up support each child needs, as well as whole group sessions that could be planned to recreate the family feel of a Jamie’s Farm residential back in school. We look at the key moments when we, as Jamie’s Farm staff, can go into school to reconnect with the children, and in particular, to hold the children to account against the challenges and goals they set themselves on the Farm.
The Head Teacher of each school receives a letter on the Friday of a visit – the day the children return. This is so that they can celebrate all the pupils’ highlights alongside them as soon as they get back. It will also detail any key strategies that we believe will help certain at-risk pupils.
On the Saturday, the day after children have returned, the parents or carers receive a letter that has been sent in the post by our Jamie’s Farm teams the previous afternoon. This personalised recognition, specific to every child, is designed to support the children to share their successes, their pride and excitement from the week immediately on their return to normal life.
Our partner schools and organisations receive bespoke reports on each child with detailed notes about their experiences at the farm, in addition to suggested interventions or manners of working with them.
“The experience that students have had has been invaluable to them. Every aspect of the process and experience has impressed me, from pre-visit calls and visits, to the actual visit, to the support and guidance whilst here, and then the planned follow ups – an incredibly impressive organisation run by equally impressive staff.” Teacher, Hartshill School, Nuneaton, 2016
Each child is sent a postcard with a photo of them in their favourite place at the farm along with a reminder of their strengths and highlights from the week, as well as the challenges they have identified for themselves. For many young people this is a real boost after the difficulties of reintegrating back into school and life have been realised.
“The postcards gave me hope in improving myself as a person.” Salma, Cranford, 2016
After six weeks, our staff visit the young people back in school and hold a meeting, refreshing the values of Jamie’s Farm, but also to hear how they have been getting on against the challenges they set for themselves. We also present the young people with their certificates, often in front of parents and teachers, which detail all the amazing things we noticed about them on the farm.
We are lucky enough that young people want to visit the farm again and again, and we have put in place a series of work experience placements for Jamie’s Farmers when they reach Sixth Form.
We have also been working with some of our longstanding partner schools to pilot mentoring, whereby older students who have visited the farm before, return with younger age groups as mentors for the week. The young people then work with their mentees back in school to help them change their paths and offer support should they need it. For some of the older mentors, this level of responsibility can be both a reward, and sometimes a timely reminder of the progress they have made since attending Jamie’s Farm.
Schools based in London are offered an extended six-week follow up programme at our city farm in Waterloo. Set up in partnership with Oasis Community Hub, this half-acre city farm is enabling us to deepen our impact, even after groups return home. The programme delivered here mirrors familiar activities from the residential, allowing young people to build on their successes and skills identified during the original visit. During the 2016-17 academic year, 210 young people visited Oasis Farm: Waterloo for a follow-up programme.
“Every Wednesday I always look forward to coming back to the farm. You do so much for me and are really nice people to be around. It’s nice having people to talk to and it makes me feel good when you understand. The people around me make me feel needed and I always want to stay longer. We have learnt different skills that will make us feel good throughout life.” Sam, Harris Academy Battersea, 2016
Taking part in the Jamie’s Farm residential and follow-up programme acts as a catalyst for change, enabling disadvantaged young people between the ages 10-16 to thrive academically, socially and emotionally. The immersive nature of the experience, combined with huge environmental change and experiential learning from living and working on a farm, allows children to see a new side of themselves. They learn to build new relationships, to trust adults and to have a more positive outlook; we often hear how young people prefer this ‘version’ of themselves and the changes they intend to make on return to school and home life. With the right framework of support, from us and their teachers, these changes in attitude and behaviour will help a young person all through life. Our Theory of Change graphic below illustrates how this occurs. Please click on the image to enlarge or to download.
