The Farm

23 February 2023

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 chook house at the Farm which was heated (left), school buses (centre), and garden beds and beehives (right) 

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.