theguardian.com

William Atkinson （Head Teacher）： Phoenix High School consists of some…a thousand 11- to 18-year-olds， and were situated on the White City Estate in West London.

Garry McMillan （Director of Development）： The farm started in 2007 and it was a piece of land that was left over from construction that wed have done on the site.

William： We decided we would create this farm to educate our young people， but also to the wider adult community could actually get a much better sense of the journey that their food takes from the ground to the table. We want to divert as many of our parents and our young people away from junk food towards food which is nutritious.

Cath Knight （Community Food Grower）： Weve got lots of potatoes， onions， carrots， peas， beans. We grow pumpkins and squashes， tomatoes， 1）aubergines， cucumbers， lots of lovely salads， chilis， grapevines. Weve got raspberries， blueberry bushes， medicinal herbs and 2）culinary herbs. We grow some edible flowers as well， which is interesting for the kids to learn about. Weve also got some chickens and some rabbits， and weve just got a bee hive.

Garry： It is about giving inner city young people an experience theyd probably never ever had. Because of the area that were in you do find that a lot of young people dont have pets， so they dont know anything about animals.

Student A： All rabbits are quite fast cause they dont like you holding them， but when you go quite slow and youre calm， then it wont be…it wont get scared.

Student B： Put your hand under its legs and lean it on your other arm， then it wont drop.

Cath： They love it！ They love getting their hands dirty. Their favorite things are watering， digging， …

Student B： Yesterday we came to the farm. We planted potatoes， and were gonna have a competition. Whoever gets the most weight in potatoes wins the prize.

Student A： We have a chicken place over there， and we take their eggs and try them and see how they taste.

Cath： Weve done little cooking projects where weve collected eggs from our hens， and then weve made scrambled eggs， and weve put some light herbs in and some chili.

Student A： You could just come and be calm and play with animals.

Student B： …and cuz they make you calm.

Garry： We have an external classroom thats Wi-Fi enabled that suits 32 young people. Any subject， if you think about it， can actually be incorporated to that sort of outdoor learning space. Students who might struggle in a sort of traditional learning environment， when they go out to the farm， is that they quite often thrive.

William： Food from the farm is actually brought into the school， and we invite the parents in to sample it.

Garry： They would come onto the farm and theyll collect some herbs， maybe collect some vegetables， then theyll take it to the food technology block upstairs.

Marcia Clark （Family & Community Engagement Manager）： After cooking class we will take it to the supermarket and show them food labels， what to buy， how to buy it.

William： You know， theyre 3）muckin out animals and milkin cows and stuff， theyre messing around with sheep. Theyre learning to drive a tractor. The opportunity to be in those wide expanse[sic] there and then to be doing those activities， yeah， for some， one or two of them， has been life-changing. Its about taking kids away from their known world， away from the parameters in which they normally operate， yeah， and give them challenges beyond their comfort zone， and many， many of the youngsters respond to that.

Garry： The 4）attainment， the attendance at the school has gone through the roof. Fourteen years ago this was， according to some newspapers， the worst school in England. 2011， this was the No. 1 5）contextual value-added school in the country. I do believe that the farm has really made a difference.

William： Oh， the entire school community is proud of it. The governors are proud of it， the teachers are proud of it， the kids， the parents， the entire community is proud of that. Its vibrant， its fantastic， and its on the White City Estate in the middle of London. I think its brilliant！ I love it！

威廉·阿特金森（校長）：鳳凰中學(xué)有大約一千名11到18歲的學(xué)生，學(xué)校坐落在倫敦西部的白城住宅區(qū)。

加里·麥克米倫（發(fā)展部主任）：這個農(nóng)場于2007年開辦，利用了施工用過之后，原本打算用作其它用途的一塊地。

威廉：我們決定創(chuàng)建這個農(nóng)場，用于教育我們的年青人，同時也包括范圍更廣的成年人群體，使大家對食物從在地里生長到餐桌的這個過程有一個更好的認識。我們希望使更多的家長及年輕人遠離垃圾食品，注重食物的營養(yǎng)。

卡絲·奈特（社區(qū)農(nóng)場人員）：我們種了很多的馬鈴薯、洋蔥、胡蘿卜、豌豆、蠶豆，我們種植南瓜和西葫蘆、西紅柿、茄子、黃瓜，大量可口的用于制作沙拉的蔬菜，以及辣椒、葡萄。我們還有覆盆子、藍莓樹叢、藥草和烹飪用的香草。我們還種有一些可食用的花卉，孩子們對學(xué)習(xí)這些很有興趣。我們還養(yǎng)育了一些雞和兔子，剛剛還得到一個蜂巢。

加里：生活在城市里的年輕人可以在這里得到一種他們可能從未有過的經(jīng)歷。因為在我們生活的這個區(qū)域，你會發(fā)現(xiàn)很多年輕人沒有養(yǎng)過寵物，所以他們對動物沒有任何了解。

學(xué)生甲：所有兔子都跑得很快，因為他們不想被你捉住，但當(dāng)你慢慢接近它，并保持安靜，那么它就不會……不會被嚇到。

學(xué)生乙：將你的手放在它的腿下，讓它靠在你的另一手臂上，這樣它就不會掉下來。

卡絲：他們熱愛這個地方！他們喜歡自己動手干農(nóng)活，他們最喜歡做的事是澆水、挖坑……

學(xué)生乙：昨天我們來到農(nóng)場，我們種了馬鈴薯。我們要進行一項比賽，產(chǎn)出馬鈴薯重量第一的那個人會得獎。學(xué)生甲：在那邊有一個養(yǎng)雞的地方，我們撿來雞蛋，嘗嘗鮮蛋的味道。

卡絲：我們辦了一些小型的烹飪活動。我們會收集雞蛋，然后做炒雞蛋，加入一些淡味的香草和一些辣椒。

學(xué)生甲：你可以來到這里，只是安靜地與動物玩耍。

學(xué)生乙：……因為它們使你平靜。

加里：我們有一個戶外課室，可以使用Wi-Fi，能容納32個年輕人。仔細想想，實際上任何一門課都能與這種室外學(xué)習(xí)場所相結(jié)合。有些學(xué)生可能對傳統(tǒng)的學(xué)習(xí)環(huán)境有些抗拒，但當(dāng)他們來到農(nóng)場，通常會有好的表現(xiàn)。

威廉：我們將農(nóng)場產(chǎn)的食物帶回學(xué)校，邀請家長來品嘗。

加里：他們來到農(nóng)場，采集一些香草，或者摘一些蔬菜，然后帶到樓上的食品工藝坊。

馬西婭·克拉克（家庭與社區(qū)項目經(jīng)理）：烹飪課之后，我們會將他們帶去超市，教他們看食品標簽，告訴他們要買什么，該如何選購。

威廉：你知道，他們在農(nóng)場為動物搞清潔、給母牛擠奶、在羊群中玩耍，他們還學(xué)習(xí)駕駛拖拉機。能夠有機會涉及如此廣泛的領(lǐng)域，進行這些活動，對他們之中的一些人（或者其中的一個或兩個學(xué)生）來說，人生之路因此發(fā)生了變化。這可以使孩子們遠離他們熟悉的世界，遠離那些他們平常的活動空間。確實，這可以使他們遠離舒適的環(huán)境而接受挑戰(zhàn)，而有很多、很多的青少年對此反響良好。

加里：學(xué)生的成績、學(xué)校的出勤率都史無前例地高。十四年前，據(jù)一些媒體報道，我們是全英格蘭最差的學(xué)校，2011年，我們已是CVA排名全國第一的學(xué)校。我相信，辦農(nóng)場的確起了很大作用。

威廉：哈，整個學(xué)區(qū)都以我們的學(xué)校農(nóng)場為榮，學(xué)校管委會的成員為此感到自豪，教師們感到自豪，孩子們、家長們、整個社區(qū)都為此而驕傲。農(nóng)場充滿了活力，真是太棒了，而且它還是在倫敦城區(qū)的白城住宅區(qū)，我認為它是卓越的！我太愛它了！