Agri Aware, AgriKids and the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) have teamed up to bring the Farm Safe Schools  programme to Irish classrooms. This first of its kind collaborative programme aims to engage, educate and empower Irish children to become farm safety ambassadors and in doing so help create a safer, brighter future on Irish farms.

The programme is designed to be interactive and to assist teachers in educating their students about the potential dangers associated with farming and agriculture. It is part of a national strategy, aimed at reducing the number of accidents on farms and in the countryside.  

As an existing component of the SPHE curriculum, this programme also provides Irish primary school classrooms with fun, interactive resources and webinars all tailored to the Farm Safe School ethos.

In order to become an accredited Farm Safe Schools, teachers must cover minimum requirement of topics in each module and show evidence of learnings achieved for each. Teachers can create a web page, a log book or blog page to showcase their classes’ hard work on engaging with and raising farm safety awareness.   They are also encouraged to share their progress via social media, using the hashtag #FarmSafeSchools.

The modules focus on the main farm hazards most pertinent to children including farmer and field safety, animal safety and machinery safety. There is also an opportunity to win prizes and to become recognised that you are making a positive contribution towards farm safety in the wider, rural community.

 As well as achieving the status of becoming a recognised ‘Farm Safe School’, participating schools who show excellence in each module and overall will have additional opportunities to gain rewards through the ‘Farm Safe Schools Champions’ initiative.
The Farm Safe Schools initiative is supported by the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine.