Autumn Schools Event
The main event we organise is our Autumn Schools event normally taking place in October. Held at Westpoint Arena, the home of the DCAA every year we welcome in excess of 1,500 KS2 students from over 50 schools.
The event consists of 12 Zones each containing a number of different activities and learning opportunities for the children.
| Dairy Food Beef Environment |
Sheep Arable Poultry Fruit |
Pigs Vegetable Wildlife Forestry |
Next dates for our Autumn Event:
Tuesday 6th October 2026
Applications for schools to attend the 2026 event will open in March
On The Day
When you arrive
We would encourage all schools to aim to arrive at Westpoint as soon as they are able between 9.00 and 9.45 am as the earlier the schools are able to get to the site the easier it will be to book everybody in.
Directions to Westpoint can be found on the Westpoint website.
When you arrive at Westpoint please come in via the main entrance and signs will direct you to the Farmwise Devon car park. A separate disabled parking area will be available – please ask a gate steward to direct you if required.
The majority of the event will operate in the Westpoint arena and all schools (pupils and teachers) will be required to register as a group in the arena reception area on arrival. School groups will be split into smaller groups of no more than 15 and schools will need to ensure that a responsible adult is available to accompany each of these groups.
Once the groups have been registered, the individual groups will be directed into the building to formally engage in the timetabled event at 10.00 am. Each group will be provided with a plastic storage box for any coats or bags they do not want to carry during the event. Please note that available storage space is very limited so try to keep items to a minimum.
Please can we assure all participants that there is extensive provision in place for hand washing and toilet facilities.
There are five activity zones containing farm livestock and it is important that people wash their hands after departing these zones.
For any school that arrives before 10:00 am there will be an opportunity for these groups to visit an additional zone in addition to their scheduled zones on the day, once they’ve been registered.
Event Housekeeping
Farmwise Devon is a unique opportunity for pupils to develop a sound understanding of how food is generated from farms within the county. Holding the event at Westpoint allows us to carry this out within a secure indoor environment with facilities that are not commonly available on farms, and provides a much greater cross section of agriculture than can be provided in most settings.
In order to make the event a success we need to keep to schedule. We encourage schools to get to Westpoint as early as they can and for teachers/responsible adults to work closely with their stewards to keep pupils moving around the event punctually.
We will ensure that the event is carefully managed to provide a safe experience – it is important that safety instructions are followed at all times. That said we will try extremely hard not to sanitise the event so much that it fails to be fun, interesting or unrepresentative of real farming.
Hand hygiene will be extremely important on the day and one of the key factors for holding the event at Westpoint was the presence of very good and numerous toilets and washing facilities. It’s important that when people leave the livestock activity zones that they thoroughly wash their hands to avoid the transmission of any bacteria. This is especially important before consuming lunch or moving into the food activity zone.
Group stewards will be available on the day to answer any questions and ensure the safety and wellbeing of all attendees.
Key things to note
Supervision Ratio – will need to be 1: 15 (responsible adult to pupils – the required ratio for a Category A trip for KS2 pupils). The group must be led by at least one teacher.
Lunches – please could we ask all pupils to bring packed lunches – this will be to minimise the time that will be required for lunch.
Toilets and washing facilities – two separate sets of toilets will be available to children throughout the event and separate toilets will be provided for adults. Children will be given clear guidance in respect of the need for good hand hygiene and provided with adequate facilities.
Photography and Filming – we expect media interest in the event so please could school staff attending the event take responsibility for ensuring they know about which pupils may and may not be filmed.
Transport – schools will need to organise their own transport to the event and when arriving at Westpoint will be directed to the parking area where minibuses, coaches or cars can be parked close to the Westpoint Arena
Security – attendance of the event will be on an ‘invite only’ basis and access into the Westpoint Arena will be closely controlled
Emergency contact number on Event Day (at Westpoint Arena 01392 353729 or 01392 353704)
Site address for the event – Westpoint Arena, Devon County Showground, Clyst St Mary, Exeter, Devon, EX5 1DJ
Travel directions – how to get to Westpoint.