In September, we ran our first ever ‘George the Farmer’ book competition for primary schools across New Zealand. The competition attracted entries from close to 250 schools and saw 45 schools awarded a set of six ‘George the Farmer’ books, with each covering a different agricultural sector. The competition was developed by our Client Council network and ties in with their focus on improving knowledge about farming and food production among young New Zealanders.

Feedback from schools

The new educational book sets were delivered to the winning schools early in term four, and over recent weeks we’ve had some fantastic feedback from schools who have been utilising the books in the classroom.

We were rapt to receive feedback below from one of our winning schools – St Joseph’s Pleasant Point – which highlights some of the great discussions and learning opportunities that have stemmed from reading the books to their new entrant class. 

"So far, our New Entrant class has been exploring the books. We have ‘Read and Feed’ each morning where the teacher reads the students a book while they eat their morning tea. This week we had a George the Farmer book each day which the children loved. We discussed what we had in our lunch boxes that were provided to us through the agri industry. We also looked at whose parents worked within the agri industry with every student having at least one parent involved somehow. We had farmers, rural bankers, grain rep, soil analyst amongst our parent group in the class. The students were really good at this activity."  - Vicki Zonneyville, Tumuaki/Principal at St Joseph’s Pleasant Point School.

"The books generated lots of learning and created great discussions. Thank you so much for making these books available to us. We really appreciate them! 

Check out some of the other great feedback and pics we’ve received from the winning schools below.

For more information on the 'George the Farmer' books, visit https://www.georgethefarmer.com.au/