Ysgol Saltney Ferry becomes North Wales’ first official school farm

A Saltney primary school has become the first in North Wales to set up a school farm registered with a County Parish Holding (CPH) number, allowing it to officially hold livestock.

Ysgol Saltney Ferry is integrating farming education into its outdoor learning curriculum, with pupils taking weekly roles to care for animals, manage the garden and engage with the local community.

Foundation Learning Teacher and Outdoor Learning Lead Gareth Lloyd said:

“At Ysgol Saltney Ferry we are continuing to develop our school farm. We are the first CPH registered school farm in North Wales and are weaving farming education into our outdoor learning curriculum.”

“Pupils take on weekly roles to care for our rescue hens, sell eggs to the community and tend to the garden, conduct soil quality surveys and look after our Pygmy goats. The real-life application of skills enable our learners to get first-hand experiences of agriculture.”

The school has formed partnerships with several working farms and agricultural organisations to support the initiative.

“We’ve partnered with several working farms and organisations, Cheryl Reeves of Agri-cation CIC in Wrexham has been a great asset to supporting our Ferry Farmers as their farming mentor offering ideas, advice on logistics and sustainable practices.”

“Katy from LEAF will be supporting our pupils with a dairy farm experience and workshops on sustainable approaches to dairy farming,” Gareth said.

The school’s focus on farming has also inspired pupils to explore entrepreneurship.

“From our work with farming and recognising the need for diversification, pupils have also begun to set up their own businesses in order to put money back into their school farm,” Gareth added.

He said the impact on the children has been significant.

“The impact of our school farm on pupil well-being and eagerness to learn more has already been phenomenal, the Ferry Farmers have plenty of ideas to continue growing their little enterprise.”