I've arrived in Canada to officially kick off the international leg of my Nuffield travels! After a few days of adjusting... it was 42°C when I left home in the Australian Summer, and a cold -17°C when I landed in Calgary, I was ready to hit the road for my first official outing.

​As part of the Rocky View Schools District Teacher Convention, The Farm School, was opening for a Teacher Professional Learning Day on how to start an alternative school centred on agriculture. The email from Teacher Matt Chomistek noted that we should dress warmly as we would be spending some time outdoors, and the forecast was for a "chilly" day. It was forecast for -24°C after an overnight snowstorm!

The Farm is an alternative school for Grade 9 & 10 students delivering the curriculum plus extra credits through the lens of agriculture. The idea of a practical education model was familiar to the Rocky View Schools district with the success of Building Futures; a successful construction program in the area. Both models are parent-led with huge community support that then garners passionate teachers. 

The Farm is set on 15 acres north of Airdie within a short bus ride for students. It is on leased land with two portable classrooms, and students have built beehives, garden beds, a chook house, and animal pens. The school is student-driven regarding the animals kept and food grown with everything from alpacas and rabbits to goats, turkeys and pigs!

Students are enrolled in a mainstream school but attend The Farm for day-to-day lessons for Grade 9 and/or Grade 10. Their teachers, Matt and Mark, are consulting with their mainstream school and teaching the entire curriculum plus extra credits for each student. For many students, the consistency of having one teacher every day provides great stability. 

In winter programming focuses on academics with the knowledge that when it's not cold there will be more that can, and needs to, be done outside. Field trips (excursions) play an important part in programming providing visits to production areas that can't be done on The Farm. 


The Farm School is no longer in operation after the lease expired on 30 June 2023. 

As I prepare to head to Canada for the Contemporary Scholars Conference in Vancouver, I have been reading lots of Nuffield Scholar reports, international and Australian reports on agriculture education, engagement, and career development, as well as researching different initiatives, ideas and programs. Agriculture education has been the focus of other Nuffield Scholarships (Ian Beecher Jones, 2006, UK; Becky Parker, 2016, Canada; Karol Kissane, 2018, Ireland; Clare Peltzer, 2019, Australia), and has been a theme and recommendation through others (Ali Undorf-Lay, 2008, New Zealand; Daniel Kahl, 2017, Australia; Jamie Heinrich, 2017, Australia; Olabisi Oladele, 2018, Australia; Daniel Eb, 2021, New Zealand).

It is also interesting to reflect on the history of Nuffield, and how the Nuffield Scholarships came to be. When Nuffield Australia Scholarships were first awarded in 1950, Australian Scholars were sent on the boat to England and upon their arrival given a bicycle to undertake their research and travels. Seems very fitting when you learn of the history of Lord Nuffield.

Lord Nuffield, born William Morris in Worcester in 1877, founded the Morris Motor Company in 1910 in Oxford which went onto launch some 25 different models of Morris cars including the popular Morris Minor. But before Lord Nuffield was a car manufacturer, he was a bicycle maker and avid long distance cyclist. Morris Motor Company was the first car manufactured to offer a customer satisfaction guarantee with the inclusion of a spare tyre, lights, insurance and an owner's magazine. By 1968, Morris Motor Company had become Morris Garages and came under the umbrella of British Leyland.

Lord Nuffield used his business networks, capital and knowledge to invest in other enterprises including guaranteeing the British health scheme BUPA in 1941. In 1945, the Nuffield organisation was approached to produce a British built tractor, and by 1946 the first prototypes of the Nuffield tractor were being tested, with production beginning in 1948 when steel supplies had improved.

The Nuffield Farming Scholarships commenced in 1947 in the UK with the Nuffield Crest included in the logo. The crest includes a bull from the Arms of the City of Oxford and a wheel representing Lord Nuffield's significant contribution to the motor industry. Lord Nuffield died on 22nd August 1963.


​With thanks to Caroline Nixon for writing Nuffield The Man and Nuffield Crest - Keeping the Record Straight which provided such a great insight into Lord Nuffield.