Few children have the chance to live on a working farm for a week, seeing for themselves where the food that reaches their table really comes from.
 But there’s a farm in west Wales where schoolchildren from London and other cites can do exactly that – and experience learning in the beautiful Pembrokeshire countryside to boot.
 Children’s author Michael Morpurgo and his wife Clare founded Farms For City Children (FFCC) at Nethercott House in Devon in 1976 to offer urban children from all over the country a unique opportunity to live and work together for a week at a time on a real farm in the heart of the countryside.
 In 1986 FFCC acquired Lower Treginnis in Pembrokeshire on a long lease from the National Trust. After a successful fundraising campaign, the buildings were converted and re-structured by FFCC and in May 1989 Lower Treginnis opened for its first schools.
 The project won many awards for its sensitive restoration of the original farm buildings to provide a purpose-built, child-oriented space.
 The farm buildings were converted by FFCC to provide for up to 40 children and their teachers. Here the children help look after poultry, horses, donkeys, milking goats or breeding a herd of pigs.
 The farm now welcomes over 1,000 pupils every year and is booked up for 32 weeks a year. In charge of running the project in Pembrokeshire is School Farm manager Dan Jones, who in 2009 started his teaching career in Swansea. He wanted what most teachers want – to help each child achieve their personal best, help them excel and feel fantastic about themselves.
 Disillusioned with the education system Dan decided to quit general education just five years later. He explained: “The current education system makes it increasingly difficult for teachers to inspire children to learn. There is a huge workload teachers have to deal with, statistics and data inputting are a priority and that can have a real, negative impact on teachers, but also the children. It was more about reaching targets and getting my performance-related pay, and the children were no longer seen as children but as a level. So I quit and moved to the most westerly part of Wales – Lower Treginnis farm. The Pembrokeshire coast is now my classroom and the sheep, pigs, horses, goats and vegetables are my resources.”
 The farm was not new to Dan. Every spring he would head west for a week of muck and magic with a group of year 6 pupils and fell in love with the place.
 “I would beg to be one of the team who accompanied the children, and when a few years later the manager’s position at Treginnis was advertised I knew this is what I wanted to do. I was eventually appointed and am now doing my dream job. My wife supported my decision and we both handed in our notices and left for Treginnis. To say I am thankful to her for supporting me is an understatement,” Dan said.
 Every Friday a coach load of children aged 9–11 is welcomed to the farm and for many this is their first time away from home. FFCC aims to encourage learning, to raise self-esteem, and to enrich young lives by providing a safe and welcoming setting where children and their teachers together get involved in the working life of a real farm with real farmers.
 “Treginnis is not a petting zoo, and we ask them to do real farm work. They are up at the crack of dawn milking goats, feeding pigs and poultry or looking after newborn lambs. The children are completely unplugged from the virtual world and instead can enjoy a game of chess, play cards, read a book or a kick-about on the playing field. Three times a day the children sit at the dining table with their peers and teachers and eat together. For some that is a new experience but one that they relish. In only a week, you can see a change in the children. They are more confident, have more self-esteem and a real understanding of hard work and perseverance. These experiences and memories stay with them right the way through into their adult lives. It is an intense, ‘learning through doing’ experience of a different life, for children who may not know where their food comes from and have limited opportunities to explore the outside world,” added Dan.

(A)

Joseph Priestley: Priestley was born into a family that was known for being Dissenters. This meant that they did not conform to the Church of England. He studied in a local grammar school and was regarded as a brilliant student. Priestley excelled in most subjects, including physical sciences. His ill health forced him to return home from school after three years of studying. After his health improved he went on to study history, science and philosophy at Daventry Academy. Here, he read a book entitled Observations of Man, which was written by David Hartley, an English philosopher. This book influenced his work and was the reason why he worked to further his education.
 During the month of March, 1775, Priestley wrote to several people about his discovery of the new air he observed the previous year. His letters were read aloud during a meeting among the Royal Society. This was outlined in a paper that was entitled “An Account of Further Discoveries in Air.” He conducted several experiments with this new air using mice.

(B)

Humphry Davy: Humphry Davy was born on December 17th, 1778 in Penzance, Cornwall, England. He received his education in Penzance and Truro. In 1794, he lost his father and in an effort to support his family, he became an apprentice to J.Binghan Borlase, a surgeon. Under Borlase, he began to investigate various gases. Davy prepared and inhaled nitrous oxide (laughing gas) and in 1800 he published the results of his work.
 His publication made him popular and the following year he was hired to work as an assistant lecturer in chemistry at the Royal Institution. He was very successful at the institution and his lectures soon became a draw for fashionable London society. He later became a fellow of the Royal Society in 1803 and was awarded its Copley Medal in 1805.
 In 1809, Humphry Davy invented the very first electric light. He did this by connecting two wires to a single battery and then attaching a charcoal strip between the other two ends of the wires. The charged carbon then glowed, making the very first arc lamp. He later invented the miner’s safety lamp in 1815. This lamp made it possible for the mining even with the presence of methane and other flammable gases.
 By 1812, Davy was considered one of Britain’s leading scientists and was subsequently knighted (given a rank of honour allowing him to use a tittle).

(C)

Robert Boyle: After his early education in Ireland, Boyle was sent to Eton College in England. At 11 years old, he was sent around Europe for a journey that lasted for six years. In 1649, he returned to Dorset, England, where he began writing. He then set up a laboratory three years later and started to write scientific work. It was at this time that he expressed the importance of the use of experiments in science.
 He then moved to Oxford in 1655, where he joined a group of philosophers who established the Royal Society. Another famous scientist, Robert Hook, entered into Boyle’s life during this time and aided him in experiments. It was here that they came up with an air pump that was used to create vacuums, with Boyle carrying out several trials to explain the importance of air and also its nature. Boyle then demonstrated the importance of air for breathing and for combustion as well as for sound transmission.

(D)

John Dalton: John Dalton was born into a Quaker family, where his father Joseph was a weaver and his grandfather Jonathan Dalton was a shoemaker. He attended the Quaker Grammar School in the Eaglesfield, led by John Fletcher. When John was 12 years old, Fletcher handed over the responsibilities of the school to Jonathan, John’s elder brother who then called John Dalton to assist him. After teaching in the Quaker school for a couple of years, the brothers bought a school in Kendal and offered various subjects to do with science and maths.
 During this period, John gained some popularity that was enough to get noticed by Elihu Robinson, a rich Quaker who taught him mathematics, meteorology, and other sciences. Dalton was also mentored by a blind person named John Gough, a wealthy merchant who lived near Kendal School.
 Dalton had a great interest in meteorology and the atmosphere. This led him to the study of gases and forming the atomic theory. He published a paper explaining that when two different gases were mixed together they acted independently as if the other one was not present.