Day visits and Outreach for Key Stage 3

With the recent changes in the KS3 curriculum, a visit to The Magdalen Project is even more relevant and inspiring for KS3 pupils. The Magdalen Project focuses upon demonstrating and raising an awareness of sustainability through a local solutions-based approach. Our unique farm setting and interactive, hands-on approach to teaching aims to provide visiting pupils with a memorable learning experience which can be transferred back to the classroom and more importantly to their own lives.

Our day visits especially complement and enhance the requirements of the new Geography curriculum. The farm provides a fantastic opportunity for pupils to explore many of the key concepts, in particular that of environmental interaction and sustainable development, as well as providing a unique fieldwork and out of class learning curriculum opportunities.

Each visit is tailor-made to fit the needs of the individual group through liaison with visiting teachers and is informed by the emerging priorities of the syllabuses, student-centred learning and education for sustainability.

Using Magdalen Farm as a case-study, pupils will have a practical opportunity to explore local and very real solutions to climate change, resource depletion and ‘peak oil’ through a sustainable solutions approach. A visit to the farm could include some the following experiences:

Investigating our variety of sustainable buildings including our straw-bale roundhouse, rammed earth classroom and cob and wine bottle tool-shed!
Consider low impact building materials whilst stomping and sculpting cob bricks from mud, straw and sand;
Making and tasting carbon-neutral organic pizzas in our wood-fired earth oven;
Build teamwork and interpersonal skills through survival challenges such as fire lighting, orienteering, shelter building and campfire cooking.
Exploring food miles, seasonality and carbon footprints whilst weeding our carrots and tasting the fruits from our edible hedge;
Discussing the conventional vs. organic farming debate whilst feeding our rare breed pigs, grading our free-range chicken eggs or pulling up stubble turnips for our goats.
Making the links between water quality, human health and conservation whilst discovering the simple beauty of our composting toilets!
Finding solutions to the impending “peak oil crisis” whilst drinking hot chocolate brewed in our solar oven.
Investigating the link between farming practices and pollution whilst taking kick samples from the river Axe which meanders along the bottom of our farm.
Looking at the interdependence and interconnections of all living things, whilst taking part in practical conservation jobs.

In addition to our day trips we also can help your students to design and create sustainable, interactive school grounds – including building cob ovens, sensory gardens and edible gardens. To find out more please see the outreach section.

Our Forest School programme is also highly successful with KS3 students, particularly for those students who may struggle in mainstream education and need a more hands-on approach to education. This programme aims to build self-esteem and behaviour management through ongoing conservation and practical tasks in an outdoor setting. Our Forest School programmes can be run in or near your school grounds or at the Magdalen Project.

For more information on any of these programmes, please contact us.

A Level

Do your pupils enjoy environmental studies?

Are you looking for an inspirational centre with excellent field study opportunities in geography and biology?

The Magdalen Project offers this and much more....

From KS3, GCSE, AS & A' Level, at The Magdalen Project we offer excellent opportunities for field and project work. We only ever have one school at a time and pride ourselves in our tutors with over 10 years teaching experience and the flexibility in making sure we design the course to meet the specific needs of you and your students.

Students will develop the use and application of a wide variety of geographical skills, and broaden and deepen their knowledge and understanding of geography in a range of inspiring environments.

Courses include:

A Level, AS & GCSE Geography

The Magdalen Farm environment in conjunction with the diverse rural surroundings offer special opportunities for investigative fieldwork and project work for secondary geography students at A level, AS and GCSE.

The geography courses offered draw upon a long experience of teaching secondary geography in the field and the classroom, liaising with visiting teachers and informed by the emerging priorities of the syllabuses, student centred learning and education for sustainability.

As a small centre with a growing reputation, we pride ourselves on enabling our staff to focus on the learning and domestic needs of each individual school.

The resources of the farm and its surroundings, the rural environs and its settlements as well as accessibility to the Dorset coast offer opportunities for a range of geographical investigations.

These include:

River Channel and floodplain management:

The meandering course of the River Axe and its floodplain offer opportunities for investigating the relationship between channel form and processes as well as contrasting ecocentric and technocentric approaches to channel form and processes as well as contrasting ecocentric and technocentric approaches to channel and floodplain management.

Water quality, ecosystems and agriculture:

Local sub-catchments of the river Axe with varied land use, farming and water management offer opportunities to develop awareness of a range of issues in relation to human health, resource management and ecosystems and to identify management practices for improving water quality.

Woodland ecosystems and habitats:

Contrasting woodlands on the farm and close by provide scope for investigating the impact of different management practices on productivity, biodiversty and landscape.

Rural settlements - past present and future:

The diversity of rural settlements offer an opportunity to develop a critical understanding of the changing economic, demographic, social and environmental characteristics of rural settlements, rural decline and counter urbanisation.

Changing agricultural systems:

The implications of organic farming. The study of both conventional and organic farms offers exploration of agricultural systems and current issues, analysis of underlying values behind different agricultural policies and management and their impacts on food, soil quality, nutrient cycling, hydrology and wildlife.

Coastal processes and coastal zone management:

The lesser known dynamic coastal environments of the West Dorset coast offer opportunities for investigating coastal processes and assessing a range of past and proposed human interventions. The classic landforms of Chesil and Purbeck are also within reach of farm.

Weather, Microclimate and energy:

Spatial and temporal investigations of microclimates and hydrology can be applied to the question of assessing the potential of the site for renewable energy generation. The context for such investigations is the real need to assess the relative potential contributions of solar, wind and water power as we continue the environmental impacts of conventional technology and lifestyles.

Additional courses include salt marsh succession, impacts of out of town retailing and factors influencing locations of traditional rural and multinational manufacturing centres. We are happy to design and adapt courses to meet your specific needs.

"This is education at its best – developing the parts on every pupil, which are largely left untouched until one steps into the Aladdin’s Cave of experiences at The Magdalen Project."