Competition for pre-school settings and schools
Kindly sponsored by BURWARTON & DISTRICT AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY
CHARITABLE GRANT SCHEME
Competition brief:
The main aim of this year’s competition is to develop an understanding and practice of growing food in as sustainable and environmentally-friendly a way as possible.
In the week beginning 4 April 2022, you will be provided with a selection of edible sprouting seeds (microgreens) and a seed tray and cover for growing them. You, of course, can use other seed-sprouting methods (such as jam jars, damp paper towels or seed sprouters) to grow them as well. The children are asked use their knowledge, imagination, creativity and understanding to explore ways of germinating the seeds and nurturing them into strong, healthy and productive plants that they can eat.
During the planting and growing period, the children should keep a log of their activities, either individually or as a group. They can use information technology, writing, oral work and any other recording and communication methods they wish, but the log this year will need to be sent to us digitally. It is important that the log contains as much evidence of children’s activities as feasible, either as individuals or in working groups, to show how the activity has developed their knowledge, skills and understanding, for example through:
- not being discouraged if they encounter difficulties, creating and developing their own ideas and developing strategies for doing things;
- asking simple questions and recognising that they can be answered in different ways; observing closely; carrying out simple tests; using their observations and ideas to suggest answers to questions; and gathering and recording data to help in answering questions;
- exploring the different varieties of micro-vegetables available, the range of culinary uses they can be put to, and whether or not there are significant advantages to eating them as part of a healthy diet;
- for older children, recording findings using simple scientific language, drawings, labelled diagrams, keys, bar charts, tables and information technology.
They can decide how to present their log and what to put in it to show: the key events; any problems with growing their seeds and how they solved them; any advice they sought; how the growing conditions influenced their crops; and their overall successes and failures.
Click here to view and download the Aspects For Judging document. (Opens in anew tab.)