Farmer training in caring college
‘Boarders and day students feel safe, which contributes to their desire to do well’
A SCHOOL dedicated to training young Farmers of the Future is thriving in the Westcountry, an example that could – and certainly should – be copied on a nationwide basis.
That, at least, was the view of Prince Charles, after he had visited Brymore School, the country’s only state-funded rural technology school.
Farming is at the very heart of the place. Half the boys come from a farming background – and fully half will go on to work on the land or in land-based industry in one way or another.
Brymore, which opened in 1952 in a former stately home, takes boys from all over England and Wales, but principally from the western counties. All have expressed an interest in studying agriculture, horticulture, agricultural engineering, woodworking, or other country-based activities, and after their four or five years most go on to further education, a large percentage as farmers.
Practical, hands-on instruction is paramount at a school that, at first sight, seems very much like a typical boys’ boarding school. Indeed three-quarters of them are boarders and the school is divided in a conventional way into three houses which compete against one another.
But Brymore is still a very small school – just 180 boys. And, in many ways, therein lies its success, because the boys receive individual attention right the way through, from a dedicated teaching staff. They take conventional school subjects as well as the land-based and engineering courses, and the school has a very enviable record of sporting achievements.
But the emphasis is on what may be learned in the workshops, the greenhouses and hot-houses, the foundry and forge, the walled garden and the organic farm.
Brymore stands on the edge of the village of Cannington, west of Bridgwater, with the magnificent Quantock Hills as a backdrop. It is rich farming country, a classic and ideal environment to study agriculture.
Chairman of the school’s governors, Wendy Welland, is an ardent supporter, having sent her two sons there, both of whom have gone on to run their own successful land-based businesses.
"A boy can come here and really find himself, discover what he is good at – and what he wants to do in life," she explained. "He is given every chance and encourgament, whatever his background."
Some, she explained, had encountered difficulties in coping with conventional education. Others had learning problems associated with dyslexia, but they were all allowed to work in their own time to discover their true potential.
Mrs Welland plays a highly practical role in the school, running the Young Farmers’ Club, with more than half the school involved.
"Boys have to want to come here," she explained. "They need to have a feel for farming or engineering or woodworking or another countryside-based activity."
While welding and blacksmithing are found at one end of the school’s practical syllabus, bee-keeping is at the other. There is a small sixth form, taking boys through to useful NVQs, following on from a wide range of GCSEs. Life skills involve the running of a farm shop on Saturdays, selling organic produce from the school’s saddleback pigs, poultry, Suffolk and Texel sheep and the dairy herd, as well as produce from the glasshouses and walled garden.
As Mrs Welland explained: "If you are no good at maths you will end up seeing the subject in a whole new light once you’ve used it to work out seed rates for the tomatoes and peppers."
There is no extrance exam for Brymore, just an interview, and parents only pay boarding fees. Boys visit the school before joining and are shown around by an older pupil, who acts as his mentor once he has arrived. This emphasis on care of the individual is noted in the latest Ofsted report on the school, which found it offered "outstanding pastoral care and guidance for the students." It adds: "As a result both boarders and day students feel safe, which contributes to their desire to do well."
The report recorded a high quality of teaching which helped students gain a positive attitude to their work and make very good progress.
A visit to the school leaves an impression of happy children, of a place turning boys into young gentlemen, well mannered and with a rounded approach to life, responsible, resourceful and happy to lend a helping hand.
And also someone who can successfully reverse a tractor and trailer around a barn without hitting anything, construct a smoker out of raw metal, or a state-of-the-art pig arc.
