AN exciting project to create mini farm at Tavistock College could soon be under way, following the huge success of the school's pets' corner.

The farm idea is the brainchild of teacher Helen Harris, who believes such a project could have far reaching educational benefits for the students.

Helen said: 'The idea is really part of a drive to connect the college with the world outside more.

'We started with the horse and pony care course, we then introduced an animal care BTEC course. During this time, I have gradually brought more and more animals into the college.

'We have a hamster called Ted who lives in my classroom, we have a spaniel called Pebbles who come in, and since last November, we have really expanded with our pets' corner, with chickens and rabbits and now we have our first chicks.'

Helen said parents, staff and children come in to school at the weekends to help care for the animals.

The year 7 tutor groups take it in turn to look after the pets corner and any eggs that are gathered during their week are made into a cake by the school kitchens.

But pets' corner is not enough for Helen — she is hoping a small farm can be created in the school's heritage orchard.

'It's early days yet, but I would like to run a small number of rare breed sheep, ideally grey faced Dartmoors,' said Helen.

'This particular breed was used in the 19th century and their wool was made into a very hard-wearing cloth, actually called Tavistock.

'We could get a local farmer in to shear the sheep and use the fleeces in our textiles department.

'I also think it would be possible to have a flock of chickens — our kitchens use about 200 eggs a week, so we could be working towards self sufficiency with the eggs.'

Helen would also like to introduce horticultural elements to the farm, with raised beds and a polytunnel.

She said the college was 'very fortunate' to have lots of staff with relevent expertise to help run the farm, which she believed would have far reaching benefits for the students.

'They love working with the animals, absolutely love it.

'It's a good opportunity to do practical work with clear cut outcomes, which is sometimes hard to achieve in other subjects,' said Helen.

'Some of the more demanding children are particularly good with animals.'

Helen also hopes to extend animal care into other aspects of the curriculum including maths and business studies.

'Certainly the English assessments of the students doing the horse and pony course have improved and I am hoping at some point that the farm project could be taken on as a research project because so far, we have quite a lot of evidence that animal care is showing clear benefits in all sorts of areas.

Depending on finances, Helen hopes the farm could be starting in a small way by mid Autumn. In the mean time, she said she was very grateful to the Pets' Corner sponsors, Cornwall Farmers, Devon Bark, Okeford Vets and MyVetMeds, Ron's Pets, plus year seven PTA and David Carver of year 10, who bred the chickens, and Ricahrd Vallance of year 11 who made the chicken ark.