More than 900 schools and homes took part in the first-ever Virtual Food and Farming Day on Friday, July 3.
Kids Country, the East of England Agricultural Society’s education initiative, brought animals, farmers, food producers and tractors directly into classrooms and homes all over the UK.
Whilst 938 school and home users were logged as taking part in active sessions on the day of the event, over 9,000 users visited the website and will hopefully go on to take part in the resources that will remain available to access for free on the Kids Country website until the end of August.
Ayscoughfee Hall School headteacher, Mrs Clare Ogden, said: “Ayscoughfee Hall School Year 6 children really enjoyed the Virtual Food and Farming Day this year. We all tuned in for the streaming during the morning and enjoyed taking part in some of the activities from the website in the afternoon.
The children were particularly excited to see themselves at last year’s show in some of the videos. It reminded us of what a fantastic day out we had, and we can’t wait to return next year.
Sandra Lauridsen, education manager for Kids Country, said: “The feedback from schools and home educators so far has been overwhelmingly positive, with over 900 schools and homes actively taking part in sessions and over 9,000 more visiting the website during the day.
“On social media nearly 50,000 users engaged with our posts about the Virtual Food and Farming Day, often thanks to the gratefully received support of our colleagues in the food, farming, countryside and education sectors, and we really hope these people go on to access the materials over the summer.
“Kids Country will make sure all the resources from the Virtual Food and Farming Day will remain online and accessible through to the end of August, as well as all of the online resources that we have published since lockdown started in March.
“We are thrilled that lots of the schools that took part in Friday’s virtual event also registered their interest in what will hopefully be the biggest Food and Farming Day yet on Friday, July 2, 2021, back at the East of England Showground.”
The new online event was in place of what would have been the eighth Food and Farming Day this year, which annually inspires up to 5,000 Key Stage 1 and 2 children (age 5-11) at the East of England Showground, Peterborough, to connect with all things food, farming and the countryside.
Kids Country is the East of England Agricultural Society’s education programme for children in Key Stages 1 and 2 (ages 5-11). The programme delivers exceptional, hands-on learning experiences for children, based around food, farming and the countryside.
