About
Schools Farm Time is a registered business that provides farm landscaping services for schools - free of cost - in a professional, efficient and reliable manner, while conducting team building training programmes for both public and private sector employees using a farm based setting. We are located in Bamboo, St. Ann. Bamboo is a small farming community predominately known for the cultivation of yam; however, cash crops such as pumpkins, peppers and callaloo are also planted. Our vision: To contribute to the growth and continuity of the School Garden Programme throughout Jamaica and the Caribbean, by working as a team, on an ongoing basis, with companies that are desirous of promoting farming in our schools.
Team leader and managing director is Ingrid Shirley. She is a trained Business Education teacher - past student of Moneague Teachers College in St. Ann, and she is also a certified Entrepreneurship Instructor, trained at The Vocational Training and Development Center in Kingston. Miss Shirley has worn many hats both in and out of the classroom; however, her first love resides with teaching.Her respect for the soil started with her mother whose attempt at marketing her produce resulted in numerous challenges. Hence, seeing her plight first hand inspired her to combine both disciplines - Entrepreneurship and Agriculture to create several unique, result oriented Agri-business workshops.
Ingrid has been teaching from the age of twenty (20) and her experience in the classroom ranges from primary to tertiary. At the tertiary level she taught Language and Communication along with Entrepreneurship for two years at HEART Trust - The National Training Agency. Those who have had the opportunity to be a part of her lectures have described her method as simple, highly motivational and memorable. In addition to that, her passion for teaching and learning and her extensive knowledge of entrepreneurship, has inspired her to write several manuals for both teachers and students.
