RHET Lothian
RHET Lothian Countryside Initiative was established in 2002 and covers the council areas of East Lothian, Edinburgh, Midlothian and West Lothian.
We provide FREE classroom resources, classroom speakers and farm visits to local schools.
Case Studies
RHET Lothian last academic year organised a farm visit to Oatridge College Farm for all three of the Primary 3 classes from Sciennes Primary School in Edinburgh. The visits were spread over three separate days. Each day when the bus arrived we kitted the children out in Wellingtons and gave them a short talk about Oatridge before splitting into two groups to go round the farm.
Helen, the farm secretary at Oatridge took the first group round and Mary, RHET Lothian chairperson took the other group. During the visit the children were able to see two different types of beef cattle in the cattle sheds and also some young calves with their mothers in the fields. There were sheep in the fields plus some sheep in the handling pens having their feet trimmed. One of the college lecturers from the college took time out to explain why the trimming was necessary and the process involved.
The classes were also lucky enough to see pigs and their piglets, some of which were only a few days old! As part of the tour the children saw the different machinery used on the farm such as ploughs, combine harvesters and tractors to name but a few. They also saw the winter wheat crops growing in the fields as well as the end product, and they discussed what the crops are used for.
The Farm Visit was a great experience for the children as many of them had never been out on a farm before and had not seen farm animals in such close proximity before.
Contact RHET Lothian CI
If you would like any of our services or to support RHET Lothian then please contact our local Project Co-ordinator:
Karen Somerville
T: 0779 555 0669
E: lothians@rhet.org
