Goodheart Animal Sanctuary Visit

Class: Year 10

Number of students: 8

Gatsby benchmarks: 1, 2,3, 4, 5, 6,

Activity

As part of our career lessons in school we plan to give the students as much awareness as we can about the range of job sectors available to them, our students enjoy practical hands-on work and being outside so a visit to Goodheart Animal Sanctuary in Milson was a great opportunity for the students to explore.

Established in 2017, our sanctuary in the West Midlands is home to over 300 animals, including pigs, goats, chickens, alpacas, and more. The site features a diverse landscape of fields and woodland, now enhanced with several exciting habitat development projects. These include the Pig Barn & Woodland, the Goodheart Home for Rescued Hens, and a dedicated Outdoor Education Area.

Alisha and Dave offered a warm welcome to the sanctuary, they spoke to the students about how they began working for the sanctuary and caring for the needs of the animals. Alisha talked through her career in animal care as a young girl volunteering at a local farm close to where she lived, she seen firsthand how much animals need humans to help and care for them so from this began her college journey and completed it finding her role within the sanctuary and has been there since it opened in 2017.

Dave spoke about his career journey, and it was completely different to Alishas. He left school with no qualifications working on a local farm as his interests were working with animals and helping them. Dave was offered the opportunity to support him by setting up the Goodheart charity so returned to college at the age of 25 yrs and completed animal care courses. Dave explained to the students that having a career is important and finding an interest is vital but also explained the importance of staying and school and completing their education.

Impact of Activity

The students spent the day on the farm helping the staff care for the animals, they visited all the areas of the animals’ habitat. Firstly, it was the Rehab and Special care unit for the Horses they met Morris a white pony who was very gentle and old, they showed how they care for him by brushing him, and cleaning his hooves as items can get stuck in them. They have a vet station onsite so the caring and medical issues can be dealt with as the horses don’t like to be taken away. The students visited the sheep, chicken and turkeys supported by feeding them and explored their living conditions.

The students enjoyed the pigs they were able to get close to the pigs and help with massaging them and brushing them, the students also were able to make up food parcels for the pigs to feed on this contained hay, pig nuts with a few drops for scented fruit, the students threw the parcels over to the pigs and watched as they ripped open the parcel and ate the food.

The students enjoyed the whole day expereince and a few have mentioned that animals do have feelings and do need caring for. The students asked a range of appropriate questions in relation to the animals. Alisha and Dave spoke about how much it costs to look after a pig

Its around £1000 a year for 1 pig, the students worked out quickly how much the charity needs to survive.
The students asked about income into the farm and Dave explained all the money they receive is through funding, charities and open days.