The Chicken Club at Bishop Luffa is great fun for us as students. This is for many reasons like collecting eggs and cuddling the chickens. Chicken Club isn’t just in the morning which is a great therapeutic start to your day, it's a safe and relaxing space to be in. You can also go to the chickens at lunch time on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. On Tuesday and Thursday some Year 11s cover looking after the chickens on the days Mrs Fowles isn’t at school. Some students come in at the weekends and in school holidays to look after the chickens and enjoy being able to spend that extra time with them and making sure they are all happy and healthy. We've also been planting fruit trees in their extended run which has been really fun.
After the weekend it is really nice to be able to go to the chickens on a Monday morning to get a good start to your week. Seeing the chickens in the morning also helps to socialise with other types of students from other years and it's something we can all talk to each other about. It can also be quite refreshing as you're out in fresh air and it's good because there are lots of different jobs everyone can be involved with e.g filling up their water. There is also a sense of belonging and feeling important to the school as we are looking after the animals for them. All the chickens are very chatty but it's a calming sound to hear them all talking to each other. At our school some students do DofE and it's a really good option for volunteering for that.
We have eight amazing fluffy rescue chickens which everyone helps and loves getting stuck in with. The chickens' names are: Brenda, Eggnog, Cruella, Hei Hei, Ursula, Linda, Dora and Tina. We did have ten chickens but unfortunately two of them passed away due to natural causes and they were Moana and Muffin. Although they have lost two of their sisters, the chickens are thriving and enjoy the company of the students when we go and see them. We are hoping to get some more hens in the summer. We are hoping to get some more hens in the summer, once we have enough funds to expand and improve our facilities. If you are able to donate towards this please visit our Justgiving page by clicking on this link.
Written by Molly Wimshurst, Tilly Morgan, Jamie Winson, Poppy Oxford, Max Hudson, Toby Burt, Jack Challen, Dylan Loxam, Derek Turley and Hazel Cooper