Celebrating Partnership at St Augustine’s Priory

St Augustine’s Priory, Ealing Catholic independent day school for girls, is delighted to form partnerships with local state schools and pupils from the Ealing state secondary school, the Ellen Wilkinson School for Girls, are the latest to benefit from the experience.

St Augustine’s Priory, Ealing Catholic independent day school for girls, is delighted to form partnerships with local state schools and pupils from the Ealing state secondary school, the Ellen Wilkinson School for Girls, are the latest to benefit from the experience.

Last Friday the St Augustine’s Priory farm welcomed the visitors, who had a variety of mobility and other needs, to see the Priory Farm and were hosted by the St Augustine’s Priory Farm Managers. The visit had as its focus wellbeing and, as the Priory Farm at St Augustine’s Priory has an array of animals, including sheep, micro-pigs and chickens this was an opportunity for the girls from Ellen Wilkinson to meet the animals, relax and enjoy their visit.

The St Augustine’s Priory pupil Farm Managers benefit in many ways from working on the farm, from learning about animal care through the school’s animal care course to organisational and leadership skills. One of the Year 10 Farm Managers not only facilitated the visit from the Ellen Wilkinson pupils but also developed and produced a survey for them to complete at the end of their visit.

Questions sought to elicit information which has been analysed by one of the St Augustine’s learning support teachers to provide information to develop and enrich future tours. The responses to the survey were very positive with all pupils saying that they enjoyed their visit. In response to the question, ‘What did you enjoy most?’ answers included, ‘Everything was amazing’, ‘Feeding the ewes, picking up the chickens and getting my shoes muddy’ and ‘Everything!’

In another Priory Farm development last week, two teachers from Oswestry School visited to help them in their development of their own farm. Again, the St Augustine’s Priory pupil Farm Managers were on hand to facilitate the visit and the Oswestry School teachers left inspired by the farm and the pupils.

Sharing knowledge and facilities is core to what the Priory Farm at St Augustine’s Priory is about, developing the potential and enriching the lives not only of their own pupils, but also the lives of children from other schools.