Sue Mapp visits Change of Scene, a rural project giving troubled kids confidence and self-respect through hard work with animals
Deep down in the woods today, something unusual is happening. In a tranquil valley, hidden from view and accessed via a winding, bumpy track, young farm workers are out collecting eggs, feeding alpacas, chickens, rabbits and ducks, grooming ponies, hand milking a goat and walking dogs and ferrets on leads. They are transporting tortoises, mending hutches, planting vegetables and clearing animal waste.
But wait: this is term time, and some of the workers would appear to be school age. Welcome to Change of Scene, a project conceived and run by farm owner Sue Weaver for troubled youngsters in need of a more ordered life. Three miles out of Farnham, it’s like something from a children’s story. Yet these children have led far from storybook lives.
In fact, they come mainly from deprived urban backgrounds across Surrey and Hampshire. Although in many cases they are highly intelligent, the traumas and misfortunes they have faced – physical, emotional, domestic – have fuelled frustration and anger which, in turn, have led them to fail in school and indulge in disruptive, often violent behaviour. Some are in danger of being excluded; others have been excluded already.
Aged around 8-13, all of these children have been referred to Change of Scene by their school or social worker to teach them new skills and build self-esteem by giving them crucial farm responsibilities. They stay for varying periods depending on how long the benefits take to impact on them, each working one-to-one with Sue, a regular volunteer or one of two members of staff. Only two come at any one time, to ensure individual attention – a rare experience in their lives to date – and the total of 16 children (currently 15 boys and one girl) attend weekly over four days, each pair coming for half a day.
“On their initial visit, in 99% of cases, we think: ‘Goodness, what are we taking on?’” says Sue. “They may have appalling reputations and be incredibly challenging to both parents and school. Yet as soon as they grasp that there’s someone here who listens to their opinion, it empowers them; they have instant respect and trust. That’s why we rarely get displays of anger or violence towards us personally.
“After they’ve seen what we have here, we ask them: ‘Would you like to help us on this farm?’ It’s for the child to decide, not the accompanying adult. Only once, when the child didn’t want to come, did we listen to the adult instead. It didn’t work out.”
Change of Scene began to evolve when Sue, who has two children and two grandchildren of her own, moved to the farm from London and decided to put her idyll to good use. On advice from another charity and various experts, she took several child-orientated courses and determinedly opened her 16-acre smallholding to the first few children in 2008. Since then 86 children – 10 of them girls – have attended and the hundredth is likely within a year. The waiting list averages 10.
“The key thing about any referral is that the school has identified a youngster who’s not coping in the classroom or playground, but who has an unfulfilled interest in the natural world and animals. Our strength is in getting involved with children of an age at which the outdoors still inspires awe.
“The usual pattern is exclusion from a mainstream school, then our intervention, then returning to that school or starting in a special school instead. Some of them later go on to agricultural college.”
State funding meets just under half the charity’s costs; the rest is found through a mix of fundraising, donations, grants from trusts and support from organisations such as Farnham Round Table and Hedgehogs.
Sue Weaver
“When we first meet a child, I say: ‘Make no mistake, it will be hard work here and a lot of responsibility, but we will teach you. We’ll never expect you to do anything we aren’t prepared to do ourselves. We’ll be alongside you at all times; we respect each other’s wishes. Please don’t run or shout because the animals need calm and we want them, and you, to feel safe.’”
Sue fiercely protects the identities of the children so as not to destroy their trust or shatter their image of the farm as a haven of safety and stability. I was not allowed to meet or watch any of them. Even the child psychologist who visits to offer individual guidance is not given the child’s name, although Sue may share this guidance with the family.
On site there is a cattery, a leisure centre, a barn, a workshop and a kitchen where children make yogurt and curd cheese from goat’s milk. Volunteers with specialist skills teach carpentry, baking and horticulture. And gradually, unconsciously, the children learn to value literacy and numeracy through weighing feeds, writing reports on animals or measuring them for medicine quantities and reading the instructions.
Still, they seldom voice their feelings about what the farm is doing for them; and, in any case, these are frequently inconsistent. It is parents and teachers who notice the positive effects. However, one Farnham special needs student who attended for a year and progressed to an animal care course did write to express appreciation: ‘Thank you for having me. I had a really good time… I hope one day to come back and work with you!’
Job done.
You can learn more about the great work Sue is doing and donate to the charity by going to changeofscene.org.uk
Why not read another one of our great articles? Like our piece on beautiful woodland camping sites in Southern England for a family camping adventure
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