THE first group of children to visit a new Redbrook charity farm have come away with potentially life changing experiences, paving the way for a promising future.

Last year the children’s charity Jamie’s Farm purchased a property in Redbrook to set up its third operation.

Jamie’s Farm helps vulnerable children who are struggling in challenging urban settings by providing a short stay at one of its farms where they experience a combination of ‘farming, family and therapy’ and then they are further supported at their school.

After months of preparation the first group of children arrived last week.

Education manager at the Redbrook farm, Ruth Young spoke at the end of the week and was thrilled as the farm passed its first test.

She said: “What we allow here is what we call a life swap, so we say ‘for this week try and be yes people’. And we challenge them and they do lots of things they have never done before.

“And every time they manage it we help them see that they have managed it and we say ‘you stuck with that task even though you didn’t want to do it’.They begin to see what they are capable of and they begin to believe in themselves and realise they could reset things if they are not working.

“We have just done the feedback from the morning and it is really obvious that they have got out of it what we want and we have hopefully transformed a few lives.”

During the week the group of children from The Nuneaton Academy in Warwickshire were pushed outside of their comfort zone, they cooked, fed, groomed and looked after animals, chopped wood and worked in the garden.

Ms Young said: “We have also been lucky enough that Humble By Nature have allowed us to take the kids offsite and do some work in their gardens and with their livestock.

“Woven into that we do lots of talking and working with them (the pupils) hopefully helping them with their emotional illiteracy and those kinds of things.”

The effect of facing these new challenges was immediate according to Ms Young with the children “blossoming” in their new environment.

She said: “There was one young person who blossomed in the first 24 hours. So in the first meeting we had she couldn’t interact, and in the second meeting she volunteered to go first.

“There is another young man who really struggled in the beginning, he wanted to go home and now he is saying I might not go home, I want to stay here.”

It is not only the staff who notice the change, the children can see it in themselves. In addition to having a week they won’t forget, they have something they can take back with them.

One of the children, Allysha, said: “When we came up here it was magical seeing all the lights and to me it is a bit like a vacation away.

“I’ve got a few favourite things, one of them was doing the cooking because I might be able to know a few more recipes to take back home.

“The horses were another favourite thing because I used to work with them when I was younger but because I got less confident around them I stopped working with them. But a few days later here I am working with them again.”

Another pupil, Leon, said: “It has been like a miracle, as soon as I got on the bus and we were driving up the drive it has been like a miracle.

“(I will) take back the memories I have made and the time I enjoyed here.”

The journey does not finish at the end of the week, teachers from the schools also attend the camp and will help to further cement the lessons learned when they return.

One of the teachers, Mark Williams said the whole experience had been profoundly positive.

He said: “We have taught them skills, skills of perseverance and resilience which I’m hoping they will take into school and use in their own lives to further equip them to reach their potential.”