Highfields Happy Hens

Our Early Years visits are catered around your children and can be adapted for different topics, which you may be studying. All areas of the foundation stage can be included, as the children become involved in the different activities on the farm. A visit to Highfields Happy Hens can last as long or as short as you want ti to. We have a great deal of space for your own individual activities (such as games and/or walking around the farm at your own pace).

Please download the Early Years Pack for full information and booking form.

The farm is open Monday to Friday 9am-5pm and Saturday 10am-5pm and trips are available throughout the week. All group visits must be pre-booked. Teachers are welcome to a free tour of the farm to help them plan the day, this must also be pre-booked to ensure that I am available.

For many years, Highfields Farm has been a refuge and a place for young people with learning disabilities, this makes it a very special and unique farm. We aim to make Early Years visits a very fun but real, hands on experience for children of all ages, no two trips are the same, as farm life differs from day to day!

Trips are charged from £4.00 per person (£4.50 for guaranteed use of the indoor room for picnic etc). This will include a tractor and trailer tide around the farm, egg collecting and visiting what ever is happening on that day (eggs hatching, chicks, lambs etc) all of which is within your tour.

You may also use the picnic areas, the nature trail , the bouncy castle and the fields (for games).

Buffet meals can also be provided for your trip at an extra cost. We do not take bookings for less than 10 children, this enables us to cover costs. If your group is less than this, we would need to ask for the full price of 10.

Personal, Social & Emotional:

Highfields Happy Hens aims to provide a positive atmosphere, allowing the children to happily take part in a number of activities. Children will be shown how to care for the different farm animals, they will be given a chance to feed many of them and even to hold or touch some of them!

Communication, Language & Literacy:

A tour, of Highfields Happy Hens, provides ample opportunity for the children to ask and answer questions, there are also many information signs around the farm, which can be read out to the children, helping them to understand more about the farm, and often leading to more conversation about their surroundings. We also have a number of animal songs around the farm, which can be used when looking at different animals. The Corn Story also holds lots of opportunities for discussion about different areas of farming, such as, machinery used etc.

Mathematical Development:

There are so many opportunities to introduce mathematical concepts at Highfields, from counting eggs and animals, to deciding which animal is the biggest or smallest and which egg is heavier or lighter. It is also possible to start discussions on shape as the children begin to explore their surroundings more.

Knowledge & Understanding of the World:

Most of the opportunities and experiences at Highfields will help the children to learn more about their world, there is so much to explore and take part in that they may not be able to take it all in! The main aim is that we help children to understand that their food doesn’t come from the supermarket, and how it is produced!

Physical Development:

From running around and playing on the bouncy castle or in the hay play area, to collecting eggs and holding/touching the animals, all areas of physical development can be covered.

Creative Development:

This is often quite a difficult aspect to pick up on during a farm visit, although there are a few things that can help to encourage creativity, we have many large jigsaws around the farm, which the children love doing, they can either be completed by a group, or simply by an individual.

We are also looking into providing creative sessions as an extra for the early years visits, this will include basic creative ideas, such as, painting, drawing, collage etc, which will be based on their farm experience. (If you are interested in this, please phone for more details).

Early Years visits to Highfields Happy Hens provide an enjoyable time for adults and children alike. From just £4.00 (£4.50 for guaranteed use of the indoor room) per person we provide you with an experience that will never be forgotten!

We have a policy to help with your costs, this is, for every five children attending the trip, one adult can accompany them free of charge. All other adults must be paid for at the regular cost of £4.00 per person (£4.50 for the guaranteed use of the room)(optional extra’s, such as, eggs to take home, buffet food, etc are not included within this policy).

The basic package consists of a trip around the farm and includes the following:

Tractor and trailer rides. A guided tour of the farm. Egg collecting. Animal feeding.

A visit to Highfields Happy Hens can be as long or as short as you want it to. If you would like to spend more time on the farm, there are many more activities that can fill your day, these include:

Egg train rides (waterproofs needed in bad weather) Bouncy castle (weather permitting) Hay Play area The Corn Story Henrietta's Nature Trail Fields to play in Picnic areas The farm shop (selling a variety of toys and stationary which the children may like to buy).

We will have a great room containing tables and chairs. There is plenty of room for a meal or picnic (a buffet meal can be provided by us at an extra cost). If the weather is bad, it can also be used as a work area for you if you are planning to do any activities whilst on the farm.

The room can also be used for other functions, such as, fun days, a work area, alpha away days etc. Out door/indoor toys can be hired from us at an extra cost. We have a parachute, which you are welcome to use (at an extra cost).

As a farm, we feel that we can include all six areas of the foundation stage within the Early Years farm trips:

From an extra £3.50 per person, we can provide you with a great buffet meal, this will take much of the stress out of the trip as you will not need to prepare picnics etc.

If adults would like to join the children with their meal, please add an extra 50p onto the cost of each meal (per adult). To help us cater for all of your needs, we will need actual numbers at least one week before your trip.

At an extra 70p per child, they can take ½doz eggs home, which they have collected themselves. This provides each child with a great treat, which they can be proud of.

All of the eggs that the children are buying will be stamped with the name of your nursery/group, this is just a little extra something that the kids will love.

Each child will be given a small box in which to put their six eggs into, their names are then put onto each one, making sure the correct eggs go home with each child. The boxes are then given out at the end of the trip (to prevent too many omelets!).

From past experience, we have noticed that the children always enjoy a visit to the shop to buy a souvenir. This can sometimes be very time consuming and stressful for you and other adults, while we are more than happy for you to do this as part of your trip, we have produced some ‘Goody Bags’ which are pre ordered, meaning no decisions and no needing to look after spending money.

For just £3.00, each child (only available for children aged 3 years and over) can take home a ‘Goody Bag’ with various treats and toys etc (some of which are not available in our shop!) We can either hand them out to the children as they leave the farm or we can five them to you to hand out later. There are two ‘Goody Bags’ to choose from.

We now have a selection of great games/toys which your group can hire out for the day, there is a variety of different things which can provide hours of fun giving the opportunity to extend your visit and not having to bring games with you.

For just £10.00 you will be provided with our ‘Active Pack’, which contains the following:

1 x Rip Tag Belt

3 x French Skipping – Half Width

2 x Skipping Rope Group Jumbo (4.5m)

4 x Skipping Rope Individual (2.1m)

4 x Ankle Skip

4 x Lolo Ball

4 x Whopper Hopper Junior (52cm)

3 x Stompers

4 x Catch a Cup

Our 3.5metre parachute is very popular with children of all ages and provides endless fun!

Your group can hire this for just £5.00, it can be used indoors or outdoors so is great as a rainy day option or as a light breeze in the hot summer.

We have always been happy to include the egg train in our Early Years package, although due to insurance, we have had to place some rules on it, they are as follows:

Only one person per carriage

Minimum height 1 metre

Hold tight at all times

Keep hands and feet in carriage at all times

Remain seated – no standing!!

If you feel that lots of the children on the trip are under 1 metre tall, we recommend that we do not use the egg train, as some children may become upset.

The driver of the egg train adapts the speed depending on the age and abilities of the children, but will never exceed 20kmph (this speed has been tested, and is felt to be a safe speed for anybody 1 metre tall and over!)