If you’re completely new to educational visits and hosting the public on your farm, getting in touch with your local LEAF Education Specialist is the best place to start. Explain your vision, and your motivation for hosting farm visits, and they will be able to offer you guidance and support you in your journey to becoming and educational visit host.

If you are a member, it is likely that your LEAF Education Specialist will want to come and visit you and your farm to get a feel and vision of what visits could be like, practical options for activities alongside working out the locality for school contacts.

Membership offers a host of benefits, such as discounted CEVAS courses and free CPD and activity events!

The Countryside Educational Visits Accreditation Scheme (CEVAS) gives farmers the tools, knowledge and practical guidance needed to host safe and impactful farm visits. During the course you will learn how food and farming can be incorporated into the school curriculum, and how to communicate effectively with both teachers and pupils.

Having had a chat with your LEAF Education Specialist, and with a date in the diary for your CEVAS training, it’s time to dip your toe in the water! We recommend your first experience of hosting a farm visit to be a gentle introduction. A virtual visit or a visit into school can be a brilliant place to start. Your LEAF Education Specialist can support you with delivery of a virtual offering (a live lesson from the farm – dialled into the classroom!), discussing your activity preferences and offering to schools.

Countryside Classroom is an online hub of resource and activity ideas relating to the themes of food, farming, and the natural environment for you to use. It’s time to put your farm on the map! Adding your farm to Countryside Classroom will allow teachers to find your farm and get in touch with you. You can even highlight you are CEVAS accredited.

The next step is hosting a farm visit! This will be the first step towards building a relationship with local schools and a chance to bring your vision to life. Your LEAF Education Specialist can help you organise, plan and deliver the farm visit.

LEAF Education farmer membership has a host of benefits, one of which being free farmer CPD and training, networking events and resource ideas and updates.

Don’t forget to sign up to our newsletter for the most up to date information and latest opportunities!

Why not get involved in wider Public Engagement work, welcoming the general public onto your farm, as well as young people.

For example, Open Farm Sunday – the farming industry's annual open day! We supply a host of free resources, information and support to help you in the run up to your event. It’s a great opportunity to help educate families and the local community, to find out what happens behind the farm gates and build positive relationships!

The CEVAS Education Plus course is designed to update those who have attended a CEVAS course at least two years ago and want to ensure they are familiar with any changes that have taken place, such as National Curriculum updates with reference to on-farm education, and Industry Code of Practice revisions. Successful candidates are awarded a level 3 Open College Network accreditation.

Once you’re set up, we would love to still keep in touch and continue to offer you support in your educational offering. Being a LEAF Education member means ongoing networking opportunities with the LEAF Education Specialists and access to free resources and training.