Something began to spring up in Ashford during the summer. The chickens packed up their coop, the Bantams gathered their belongings, and the goats waved a final goodbye to Muddy Wellies as they moved to pastures new.
Never fear, our Animal Care course is still here! In fact, it is even bigger than before – we have a new area to work in, and even a new tutor* Leisa who is teaching our second college class at Stourside which is based on the Wyvern School site. (*We still have Simone too!!)
At the start of summer, we began to move Animal Care from Muddy Wellies to Stourside Farm. We started by dismantling the Animal Care barn and remaking it at our new venue.
Then came the fencing! To create 4 paddocks, our team completed 250m of fencing and attached the water pipe so they have water in all the paddocks too. Once this had happened they moved on to creating pathways and the classroom. Tutor Simone says “we had to deconstruct the classroom a couple of times before it was right!”
Although Stourside is a stand-alone Craftworks College site, we are so thankful for the great support we had from Wyvern throughout the construction! Thank you also to Learnabout tutor Scott, who pulled out all the stops to ensure the plan of the Stourside became reality! Using his expertise and knowledge to overcome many problems on-site! He worked tirelessly to achieve what should become a great site.
Once the site was constructed the enclosures were put up and the Bantams, Chicks, and Goats were moved to Stourside. There are still a few things that need completing but we should be up and running by Christmas.
In the long term, we are looking to offer afterschool clubs at the Stourside site, with Vibe (the new name for Brogdale CIC Youth Work!)
We can’t wait to see how Stourside develops over the next few years!
