Ruskin Mill Trust

Ruskin Mill Trust is an educational charity that offers exciting outdoor learning environments, utilising practical land and craft activities to support the development of work and life stills in young people with autism and other learning difficulties.

The charity’s method of practical skills is inspired by the work of John Ruskin, Rudolph Steiner and  William Morris. Through practical activities it works with hand, head, heart and place covering performing arts, therapies, culture and social enterprise.

Ruskin Mill’s overarching vision is that each individual has the potential to shape their own future through meaningful relationships with the universe, earth and people.

It immerses students in the productive aspects of a curriculum that involves arts, crafts, agriculture and the living environment and through learning to care for their own wellbeing and development they overcome barriers to learning.

It also promotes research in the practice and development in these areas of education and disseminates its research findings.

99% of Ruskin Mill Trust students make termly progress and 85% of leavers achieve vocational qualification units.

The grant from the Delamere Dairy Foundation has been used to buy a new tractor for one of the farms for students which students will learn how to drive.

“The tractor is in really good condition. We’ve had one student driving it already, and two staff members. The comments so far have been around how much safer it feels than the old one, and with the cab seat, how good it will be for teaching, as the cab is quiet, and students will be able to hear instruction, and the controls are simple enough to grasp easily.

In the next couple of weeks, we intend to try it out with some of the students who have asked about driving, but who would not be able to access our old tractors due to their complexity and safety.“