Stratford High School school farm Photo: Supplied
A Taranaki high school's new agricultural course is giving students the chance to get out of the classroom and get hands on with farming.
Stratford High School set up its school farm on three hectares of its own land and began running lessons this year. The farm has 30 sheep and students helped build its covered yards and a two-stand shearing shed.
Principal Cameron Stone said students were flocking to take part, with 120 out of 650 doing Agriculture. The course covers Year 9 to Year 13. The intake was "slightly more boy heavy" but there had also been "good interest from our girls as well".
Two-thirds of Stratford's school leavers choose work placements over university and they were keen to get practical experience, Stone added.
Sheep at Stratford High School. Photo: Supplied
The school offered "full farm management" and the business side would come later, he said. "But for our Year 9s and 10s, and even Year 11s, it's more about that understanding of soil, pasture management, animal husbandry, farm management, spraying, and in time we will be looking to do our own hay as well.
"It's all about that side of farming and understanding what farm management is, is really important. As they get older, and the standards are more designed for the business end of things, then the older students will look at that."
How hands on does it get? "Well, if you think about what happens on a normal farm, we run the same process. Our ewes are in lamb at the moment, there's a ram with them, so come late August or early September, the whole lambing process will occur, and our students are a big part of that. There's obviously the shearing process, our ewes will need to be shorn, our lambs will be sold, and we're lucky to have sale yards down the road. So that whole process, whole cycle can be seen by our students and they will be a part of it."
It was "not part of the plan, at the moment" for students to cull or slaughter animals, he added.
The programme was run by agriculture teacher Fiona Putt, who was also a local drystock farmer. "We are really lucky to have our own agriculture teacher as many schools have to use their science teacher."
Stone said the school had a five-year plan to develop a two-pronged agriculture programme, with a practice-based unit standard course, "with potentially the support of someone like Primary ITO [Industry Training Organisation]", as well as an NCEA-accredited achievements standards, where senior students learn about the business side of farming.
"We're looking to progress, as numbers grow, as interest grows, and as we learn more about running a farm as a school. It's not as easy as it sounds and we may need to look at having a part-time farm manager on board as well."
Year 10 student Vinny Hunt said he always wanted to be a farmer. "I don't really like sitting in a class, and this is more hands on and I wanted to get out."
He's looking forward to shearing and lambing later in the year, but he's already learned a lot.
"I've learned how to safely handle sheep and cattle, how to calculate pasture cover and how to fix a fence."
Vinny said he also enjoyed mustering sheep.
Stone said from June next year the school would get back 17 hectares that are currently leased out. The farm could take on more stock and perhaps diversify into dairy. It could also mean the school introduced different standard courses, such as learning to use quad bikes and tractors.
The school had received "amazing" support from the community, in getting the farm up and running, he added. "We've had parents who are involved, local organisations who have helped out, either through sponsorship or labour. It's been unbelievable, how many people have supported us and we're incredibly grateful."
Looking further afield, Vinny said agriculture was his favourite subject and it was giving him skills for the future. "I want to become a dairy farmer or maybe even drystock, or become a contractor mowing fields."
