Brymore School, Somerset, is launching a petition to demand that land-based subjects should be included in the government’s core curriculum.

Brymore is a state boarding school for boys aged between 13 and 17.  The school has one of the largest and longest established working school farms in the country with over 100 acres of land caring for a beef and dairy herd, rare breed pigs, poultry and sheep.

The school also has extensive horticultural facilities including a one acre walled garden, glasshouses, poly tunnels and an apiary.

Headteacher Mark Thomas said: “I believe that vocational education should be rigorous. I believe that maximising English and Maths results should be the core business of every school. I believe that ‘progress’ is a fairer measure of a school’s impact than how many achieve C grades or above.

"However, I cannot accept that every school measure should be based on eight subjects, of which two must be English and Maths, a further three from the e baccalaureate ( to include a modern foreign language) and three more subjects, two of which could be high quality vocational qualifications but none of which can be Land Based.

"The new measures should highlight schools which ‘have particularly good success rates in vocational subjects’. Yet the truly ‘technical’ schools like us, who have been delivering vocational excellence since 1952, will be penalised because our area of expertise happens to be in a sector that the government does not recognise.

“If you support the inclusion of Land Based subjects in the 2015 measures, please do one of the following things:
1 Visit our website at www.brymoreschool.co.uk
and go on our Facebook and Twitter to share with others
2 Complete the online petition (link on our website)
3 Complete the statutory consultation regarding League Table Reforms (link on our website)
4 Write to your MP, tell others, contact the media - do whatever you think will make a difference.”