Kids Country, the East of England Agricultural Society’s education initiative, is thrilled to share the news that over 900 schools and homes took part in the first ever Virtual Food and Farming Day on Friday 3 July, bringing hundreds of farm animals, farmers, food producers, tractors and much more directly into classrooms and homes all over the UK.

Whilst 938 school and home users were logged as taking part in active sessions on the day of the event, over 9,000 users visited the website and will hopefully go on to take part in the resources that will remain available to access for free until the end of August.

Ayscoughfee Hall School headteacher, Mrs Clare Ogden, said: “Ayscoughfee Hall School Year 6 children really enjoyed the Virtual Food and Farming Day this year. We all tuned in for the streaming during the morning and enjoyed taking part in some of the activities from the website in the afternoon. The children were particularly excited to see themselves at last year’s show in some of the videos. It reminded us of what a fantastic day out we had, and we can’t wait to return next year.”

Sandra Lauridsen, education manager for Kids Country, says: “The feedback from schools and home educators so far has been overwhelmingly positive, with over 900 schools and homes actively taking part in sessions and over 9,000 more visiting the website during the day. On social media nearly 50,000 users engaged with our posts about the Virtual Food and Farming Day, often thanks to the gratefully received support of our colleagues in the food, farming, countryside and education sectors, and we really hope these people go on to access the materials over the summer. Kids Country will make sure all the resources from the Virtual Food and Farming Day will remain online and accessible through to the end of August, as well as all of the online resources that we have published since lockdown started in March.

“One of the most popular elements of the day was the Farming poem by American poet Bonnie Mohr and read by the farmers, food producers and volunteers that support Kids Country. Perfectly encapsulating both the hard work that goes into producing the food that we eat and also the vision of the Kids Country initiative, this poem can be viewed below.

Sandra finished: “We are thrilled that lots of the schools that took part in Friday’s virtual event also registered their interest in what will hopefully be the biggest Food and Farming Day yet on Friday 2nd July 2021, back at the East of England Showground. Schools can get on the list via our website.”

The new online event was in place of what would have been the eighth Food and Farming Day this year, which annually inspires up to 5,000 Key Stage 1 and 2 children (age 5-11) at the East of England Showground, Peterborough, to connect with all things food, farming and the countryside.