Abbotsholme hosted Countryfile at the school on Friday 5th February with Sixth Form Agriculture pupils taking centre stage with presenters Matt Baker and Ellie Harrison.
BTEC Agriculture Year 13 pupils Rachel Hames (Farm Manager) aged 17 from Derby, Ben Collier from Stone, Staffordshire, Gregory King from Belper, Derbyshire, Tara Witcomb from Rocester, Staffordshire all aged 18, and Year 12 pupils Alice Wood from Chesterfield, Derbyshire, and Adam Wright from Lutterworth, Leicestershire both aged 16 were central to the filming on the school farm with Matt Baker and Ellie Harrison two of the presenters from Countryfile.
Two BBC Countryfile film crews arrived at Abbotsholme to film a variety of scenes for the feature. Sixth Form pupils were filmed doing a variety of farm jobs including tractor driving skills, lambing prep and hurdle making, and vaccinating pregnant ewes against clostridial diseases. Our two pygmy goats also enjoyed celebrity status along with some Prep School pupils who were filmed feeding them. The days filming came to an end with Ellie and Matt filming the goodbye scene on a bale of hay in the farmyard.
The crews filmed these scenes in the farmyard, at the front of school and from Reddie’s grave – where the School’s founder, Cecil Reddie, is 
buried – overlooking the Staffordshire countryside.
A number of images taken around the School from over 100 years ago will also appear in an historical story with the Headmaster, Mr Fairclough for the feature. A variety of images showing the farm in action including pupil’s haymaking and gardening will be revealed alongside the filming to show that Cecil
Reddie’s vision of a new School which valued practical learning alongside academic learning is still in evidence, as it was over 100 years ago.
Abbotsholme School is set to appear on the show on Sunday 21st February 2016 at 7.15pm.
BBC’s Countryfile is currently one of the top rated shows on TV and pulled in a record 9.5 million viewers in one of its most recent broadcasts.