Charity: Jamie's Farm Lewes Farm Set Up
In July 2019, The Henry Sale Foundation awarded a grant to Jamie’s Farm to support the costs of student activities at our Lewes Farm in 2019/20. The student activities are a key part of the ways in which children and young people are engaged during their five day residential stay. It is through the gardening, woodwork, art, work with horses, cooking and communal meals that our therapeutic intervention takes place.
Despite the Covid-19 disruptions, Jamie’s farm still managed to host 28 visits benefiting 254 children, as well as many others who will benefit indirectly from experience that their teachers had (61 teachers accompanied the 28 visits.
The Henry Sale Foundation are proud to support the positive impact of Jamie’s Farms, the benefits to both pupils and staff are evident from the feedback below.
“I would never have thought that farm work would have been so appealing to inner city
teenagers, but this week has shown the amount of enthusiasm and pent-up potential that
each of them hold within them. In future I will definitely recommend this place not only to
schools but also to the various youth clubs that I work at so that those young people can
benefit too. Teaching Assistant, Compass School Southwark (March 2020)”
Demographics:
Our targeting of schools within the most disadvantaged areas means that around 80% of those who visit Jamie’s Farm fall into at least one category of being ‘at risk’ as defined by the Department for Education.
Although the majority of visitors to the farm came from London, a significant number came from Sussex. There is a known and considerable need to support vulnerable children and young people in Sussex. Lewes, Hastings, Crawley, Worthing & Arun are all flagged as Opportunity Areas, rated in categories 5 & 6, indicating that children in these areas are identified as making the least academic progress and having the poorest access to highquality schools in England (ASL, 2018). Pockets of deprivation run throughout these areas, with children from Hastings enduring some of the worse child poverty in the country. In the year ahead, we will be looking to further build our links with local schools and non-school partners and anticipate the proportion of visitors from Sussex and neighbouring counties will increase. A half of all visitors were reported as having a Special Education Need or Disability (SEND) with the majority being referred for their mental well-being and self-esteem. 88% had improved in this respect six weeks after their visit.