End of Term 6 – Aspire Farm School

End of term 6 at Aspire Farm School

As we reach the end of Term 6, we are filled with pride and joy at everything our students have achieved. This term has been full of sunshine, hands-on learning and memorable moments across all our campuses.

One of the highlights of Term 6 was completing our seasonal weaving project with the brilliant Gail Giles from the Greening Chiddingly team. This has been a long-term project that began in the winter when we made our willow frames. In early spring, we added foraged materials to begin the weaving and this term we finished them off with vibrant summer blooms. It was a fantastic opportunity to explore a traditional craft while connecting with the changing seasons in a really creative way. We are delighted to share that our students’ work will be part of Artwave, the biggest art festival and trail in this part of Sussex. Their pieces will be exhibited at Gun Brewery Taproom over three weekends in September — 6th and 7th, 14th and 15th, and 21st and 22nd, from 12 to 5pm each day. We can’t wait for the wider community to see what Aspire Farm School students have created.

Learning and caring for our animals is always at the heart of what we do. At our Chiddingly campus, Hale Farm, Patrick the peacock shed some of his beautiful feathers which students were delighted to take home. Peggy the pig continued her farm walks, often stealing the show, and Gerald the gosling is growing rapidly, still joining us for snack time every day.

Over at Ditchling, The Mac’s Farm, Huck the pig kept cool in his well-maintained wallow, the hens were treated to sweetcorn ice pops, and the rabbits got a full pamper session which they seemed to enjoy thoroughly. Our wonderful Valais sheep also went on a mini break which the staff team (and the Mac’s Farm team) and students loved! Everyone enjoyed learning about their care needs, spending time with them and exploring with them around the farm. We all had a lot of fun!

The vegetable patches at all sites have been overflowing with amazing produce this term. Students loved harvesting, tasting and selling what they had grown and making that connected to where our food comes from. At The Mac’s Farm, our students took over the Egg Shack and sold produce to customers which was a great way to practice customer service skills, handling money and taking pride in a job well done! At Hale Farm the excitement was real as we dug for our first ever potatoes, pulled our first carrots and undertook the mother of all maths challenges with our pea data handling project! It was a brilliant way to combine learning with real life experiences.

A major milestone this term was celebrating the success of the AQA Unit Award Scheme, which we launched earlier this year. We were thrilled to hand out a large number of certificates, each one representing hard work, progress and real achievements. This was a special moment for us and our students.

As the term came to an end, we said goodbye to some of our students. While it is always hard to see them go, we are so proud of all they have achieved and we know they are ready for the next part of their educational journey. We marked the occasion with cake, of course, thanks to Zak from The Wobbly Cake Co. His delicious bakes were the perfect way to celebrate and if you’re ever in need of a cake, we highly recommend checking him out on Insta at @wobbly.cakes

We now look forward to a summer of rest and reflection before returning on Monday 8th September. We will be welcoming students back to our Chiddingly and Ditchling campuses and are very excited to be opening our brand new Aspire Farm School campus in Polegate. We will share more details about that soon.

Wishing all of our students, families and staff a relaxing and happy summer break.

The Aspire Farm School Team

If you’d like to learn more about Aspire Farm School or get in touch, please contact us at:
📧 Email: director@aspirefarmschool.co.uk
📞 Phone: 07742 966765