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Virtual School Trip to Dalston

dalston factory

Megan Kendal, Operations Degree Apprentice at Nestlé Dalston, writes for nestle.co.uk on her experience in taking part in the Nestlé Virtual School Trips series.

When I was asked to take part in the Virtual School Trips project, I jumped at the chance. I think it’s really important to teach young children about the food supply chain so the idea of showing kids behind the scenes of a wind farm, dairy farm and factory, sounded brilliant!

Food and the younger generation

Growing up on a farm and being heavily involved in agriculture from a young age taught me a lot about nature and the origins of food.

For me I want all children (and even their parents!) to understand where the food on their plates comes from and show them the journey between farm and fork. Now that I’m working in the food industry, I wanted to support this work as I know how valuable this education piece would be for children to learn more about the factory environment in a safe and interesting way.

I’m passionate about sharing the knowledge I have from living on a farm and increasing others understanding of this where possible, as many people don’t get such a unique upbringing. I was pleased to hear that the virtual school trip will also include a visit to the farm, as this will help people connect the manufacturing process with where the raw ingredients come from.

Nestle Locations Dairy Farm

 

Film star for the day

The filming day for the Virtual Tour was a unique opportunity for me, although I was happy to throw myself into it and see what I could learn. This highlights how much I have grown throughout my apprenticeship as once this would have been a very stressful experience! Overall, I really enjoyed the day and working with the film crew.

It was a great experience and the team were really supportive throughout the day. Rhys was fab, making sure I was comfortable during the filming and reassuring me that it is usual to capture multiple takes. Considering I didn’t know what to expect, the film crew, and Nestlé team support on the day, were amazing.

The highlight of the filming for me was showing the team around the factory and explaining how our processes work. Initially the filming felt very alien yet over time, I think it became a little easier. The trickiest part was probably filming in the control room with a number of people watching me.

capture factory

I’ll be sharing the videos with schools that the Dalston factory has worked with in the past. We often receive requests for factory tours, and it’s been impossible to facilitate over the last year, so this is a great way for them to see inside the factory. The video is also good for us to share with suppliers and other businesses we work closely with to showcase our work and help educate the younger generation.

I hope that the kids who take the virtual tour will get a better understanding of the food supply chain, introduce them to how a factory and farm works. If they can understand the concepts and gain an insight into these kinds of environments, and the importance of protecting them for future generations, I believe this project will have been worthwhile.

Read more about Virtual School Trips here.