Chickens galore
Blessed as we are with our wonderful grounds, we continually strive to make them flourish and contribute to the life (and education) of all at St Augustine’s Priory. Our allotment is proving to be very productive and our chickens are thriving. Here Ms Burrell, one of our chickens’ main adherents, reports on the latest developments in ‘The Priory Farm’:
‘The Priory Farm has been a great success so far with students and staff chipping in to take care of our nine beautiful chickens. They are growing rapidly with the cockerels now finding their voices and in the next few months we hope to start collecting eggs from our hens. Unfortunately, over the past week we became concerned that one of our cockerels, T-Pex, wasn’t his usual chirpy self and we noticed a slight limp in his right leg. Mr Kane and I took him to the vet and they think he has some inflammation. Over the next week he will be taking anti-inflammatory medication, and antibiotics twice daily and hopefully we will see an improvement very soon.
Off to the vet
The experience of looking after the chickens has been extremely rewarding for both the students and the staff. It is a project which includes students from numerous year groups, and is extremely beneficial to those who are interested in veterinary science, or who may wish to work with animals in the future. This opportunity is unique to St Augustine’s Priory and is allowing us to make use of the beautiful grounds that we have at the school. In the future we hope that this project will extend further, with the addition of more animals which our students can take care of. Therefore, we will be seeking more volunteers to help with this initiative across all age groups in the coming months.
Nothing to worry about
‘I might as well explore while I’m here’
It should be said that looking after these animals is a tremendous responsibility and is a commitment for not only term time but the holidays too. However, the students who are involved with the chickens are enjoying it thoroughly and have shown tremendous leadership and teamwork skills. The Priory Farm is just one of the new initiatives coming to St Augustine’s Priory and over the next academic year we will be encouraging the girls to become more involved with other new and exciting STEM activities.’
Categories: Junior Nursery Prep Senior Sixth Form Whole School