An outdoor careers fair featuring farming, animals and climb-on equipment!
The Cotswold School’s Farming and Rural Economy Careers Day returned to The Avenue field on a sunny afternoon in June.
Activity on the field started early, as a combine harvester manoeuvred into position, along with a lorry a milk delivery truck, tractors and trailers.
From midday onwards, students visited exhibitors’ stalls and asked many questions, to find out more about animals, biodiversity, arable crops, logistics, equine care, machinery, college and university courses, estate management and produce created locally.
They spoke with representatives and owners of a range of rural businesses and tried out some practical activities, to help them discover more about the local economy and the range of careers available.
Interactive displays and activities included planting seeds, sorting through fossils, guessing the weight and sampling vegetables. Students in Years 7-10 and Year 12, plus children from Bourton Primary School, visited the field in groups throughout the afternoon.
Each visiting business contributed questions to a quiz for learners to complete as they toured the exhibition.
- Animal visitors included a horse, sheep, guinea pigs and rabbits
- We climbed on a combine harvester, tractors and even a racehorse simulator.
- Our visitors included Cotswold Farm Park, Hacklings, Cotteswold Dairy, Tayler & Fletcher, Tree Frontiers, Keighley Racing, Nosehill Farm and many local producers.
- Further education providers included the Royal Agricultural University and Hartpury College
- Presenters from Cotswolds Radio broadcast from the field and encouraged students to come and chat on air
- Our own ‘Gardening Club’ had a stall helping students to plant seeds.
A biennial fixture on the school’s calendar, the last Farming and Rural Economy Careers Day was held in 2017. It was cancelled in 2019 due to bad weather and postponed in 2021 due to coronavirus restrictions.
We are grateful to all the local business representatives who came along!
