Set within the grounds of the College we have our own Farm. That’s unusual in itself, but what makes Lancing unique is that the Farm is a working business in its own right.
The Lancing College Farm offers a unique opportunity for our students – and also for an array of visiting schools and community groups. The farmland surrounds the College buildings and covers in the region of 117 HA of land. The bulk of the land is mixed farmed with a rotation of arable crops combined with hay and silage production and livestock grazing.
The College ‘Farm Project’ sits within this and is the jewel in its crown. This highly specialised part of the Farm focuses on rare breed livestock and conservation grazing, and cares for a mix of animals ranging from sheep and pigs and ferrets to poultry (geese, chicken, turkeys).
In this setting, and under the expert guidance of Farm Manager Jon Hutcheon, Lancing College students enjoy hands-on experience in a real array of animal care including hatching and incubation, lambing (including some very early-morning rising to assist with this in the early Spring), general healthcare (inoculations; hoof-clipping and the like), and general livestock management.
From feeding to moving animals around the site, to ensuring their health and comfort, students work to the direction of our Farm Manager, but this work is undertaken by them, and they garner real experience and expertise. For those with veterinary aspirations, this can amount to a 5-year stint of work experience – and this has proved invaluable for students in enabling access to the university place of their choice.
In addition to this, the whole Estate is conservation-managed and various activities from tree planting, insect counts, hedge laying and farmland bird counts are student-managed.
The Farm has a double focus on education and conservation and its ethos is to provide a warm, welcoming location where students can work together, gain and develop new skills, see the week to week impact of their work and experience activities that are diverse, eye-opening and often awe-inspiring.
Through engagement with the Farm Project they are rooted in the life of the seasons, in animal husbandry and in gaining skills with real-life applications. This is an area in which patience, diligence and care is rewarded, where students gain confidence in their abilities and where team-work and individual responsibility are both key. It is no wonder that for some of our students, the Farm Project is a hugely important part of their time at Lancing.
Weekly Co-Curricular are complemented with visits from Little Lancing and from children enjoying the holiday club programme and the Farm Project sees a steady trickle of OLs returning for guidance and assistance with their university course primarily in vet studies.
