Scots School Albury’s new agriculture learning space for students
A school on the Victorian-NSW border has worked with farming families to develop a new agriculture learning space.
AN ALBURY school is sowing the seeds for future careers in agriculture and it has got farming parents coming back to school — albeit not sitting in the classrooms.
For 17-year-old student Laila Armsden, from Mansfield, studying agriculture at school has opened her eyes to the possibilities of a career in primary industry.
Laila is one of the first students to use new agricultural facilities at The Scots School Albury, which have been developed with the input of farming families whose children attend the school.
Those facilities include beds for plant trials, an irrigation system and raised garden beds.
They are part of a five-stage project for the school and are the first stage of a $500,000 commitment to a dedicated Agricultural Learning Space.
Though Laila lives in regional Victoria, she doesn’t come from a farm and says gaining a broader experience of agriculture through her education was pivotal in her career choice.
“At the school I attended before Scots, I chose a couple of ag subjects almost randomly, but it has become a passion and it’s one of the key reasons I came to Scots as it offered agriculture,” she says.
Laila is studying agriculture as one of her Year 12 subjects this year and has hopes of making a career in agricultural law through studying at Monash University.
“Agriculture is not just what happens on farm,” Laila says.
“It opens up a range of potential roles in business, finance, trade or law and there is also now an understanding you can have a career in agriculture and live in the city.”
Laila says she is “a bit sad” that she will not see the next stages in the development of the agricultural program at Scots but says it would be a terrific facility for students in years to come.
One of the parents who has been involved in setting up the new program is Emma Scholz, a farmer from between Culcairn and Henty, who has two children at the school and one who has finished their time at Scots.
Emma says the revamped agricultural program will allow the students to engage in agriculture in a “meaningful, real-world manner”.
“The school has been able to engage the school community in Albury with businesses and networks which can offer expertise,” she says.
“There has been the engagement with parents and alumni and the (Scots) students can see people who can be role models which can — with all respect to teachers — be more inspiring that what they hear in the classroom.
“The facilities on campus also give the students a hands-on experience in agriculture where they can see things grow and happen.”
The second stage of the Agriculture Learning Space will involve facilities for poultry and should be complete by the end of this term. Stage three will accommodate livestock, stage four will feature a greenhouse, and stage five, focusing on technology and aquaculture, will be finished by 2023.
The facility will all be housed on Scot’s 11ha site and will be used by students across the whole school, from preschool to Year 12.
Principal Mark Geraets says the commitment will ensure Scots remains a leader in innovative and purpose-built infrastructure among schools in the region and comes hot on the heels of recognition at the 2020 Australian Education Awards with Excellence Awards in two categories, Regional School of the Year and Boarding School of the Year.
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