The Nurture Farm is based within the school grounds, next to the Forest School.

The Nurture Farm provides valuable pastoral support for children across all the year groups within the school. Through the animals, we provide therapeutic experiences and structured learning opportunities with social and emotional development as our priority.

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The Nurture Farm was created in the grounds of Thomas A' Becket Infant School, at the beginning of the academic year 2021 - 2022, thanks to donations from Jim Jams Ltd, the Epps Family, the Goldsworthy family, the parents of Fox class 2021 – 2022, Seth Stump Grinding and other donations including FABS.

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The Nurture Farm is funded purely through donations and fund raising, any contributions towards the running of the farm are greatly received.

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The TAB Infant Nurture Farm meets four key objectives:

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1. Providing pastoral and social emotional support through programs of learning and animal-based intervention

2. Providing animal-assisted activities for children

3. Creating motivating and supportive opportunities for children with additional needs

4. Enriching the curriculum for our pupils.

 

The Animals

 

The Nurture Farm is home to several different animals; ducks, guinea pigs and rabbits. All of which have very different characters! 

We follow a ‘Therapy Farm’ ethos rather than that of a ‘Petting Farm’ model. The children come and spend time with the animals and help to care for them. This includes feeding, grooming, cleaning and replacing bedding. The children learn basic animal husbandry and develop their skills and knowledge in caring for the different animals.

Many of our children also come down to the farm to read with the animals. In our Forest School sessions, the children have also had the opportunity to collect and then use some of our duck eggs to cook ‘eggy bread’.