September 2022 - March 2023
London
Thanks for your interest in our Certificate in Community Orcharding! CICO is a unique course that combines high quality online learning with 7 action-packed, face-to-face training days. You will learn from orchard experts at a range of projects across London, and top up your learning at home with over 100 online resources and a course book. The level 3 course is accredited by Crossfields Institute and involves some homework. We’ve been running CICO courses since 2017 and they’ve been hugely successful, with over 115 students becoming qualified orchardists.
What can I gain from this course?
Many of our CICO students have moved onto exciting careers in urban food-growing, like managing community gardens, working for organisations in the food sector (including The Orchard Project!), or as professional gardeners/designers. They have also enjoyed meeting other like-minded food growers and enjoyed becoming part of our informal orcharding network.
“Taking the [CICO] course helped me out professionally…After finishing the course, I obtained a job as an Estate Worker in a Hertfordshire park…Being able to talk about the course helped me out in the interview.” Gora, CICO3.
“There are many promises and pitfalls when maintaining orchards in cities, however the holistic approach T.O.P. uses is a comprehensive system which a community can use to bring this historical tradition into our modernised lives.” Dish, CICO4 and founder of Square Mile Farms.
“Permaculture and forest-gardening enthusiasts are likely to benefit from attending the CICO course” CICO3 student
Find out more about the course content.
What to Expect
Face-to-face elements
You must attend all the face-to-face training days to be able to gain the Certificate. These take place on Saturdays, 10:00-16:00, and are held at various locations across London:
- 24th Sept 2022 – Orchard History – May Project Garden, Merton
- 15th October 2022 – Biodiversity, pests and diseases – Black Rootz, Haringey
- 19th November 2022 – Tree planting – Community Apothecary, Waltham Forest
- 10th December 2022 – Group work – Calthorpe Project, Islington – 12:00-18:00 on this day
- 14th January 2023 – Soil – TBC (Lewisham or Haringey)
- 25th February 2023 – Orchard design – Calthorpe Project, Islington – 12:00-18:00 on this day
- 1st April 2023 – Summer pruning and grafting – TBC (Southwark)
Online elements
45 films and powerpoints (with subtitles), 26 interactive quizzes and 33 pieces of online reading material. The training platform will be available a few days before the course starts and for a year after it finishes. To introduce this and for a course overview, you should attend one of these Zoom meetings:
- Sun 18th Sept 22, 16:00-17:30 – introductory Zoom OR
- Mon 19th Sept 22, 18:00-19:30 – introductory Zoom.
Workload
To support the online materials and the face-to-face training, you’ll have a 200 page course book, access to friendly tutors and of course, your fellow students (who for some reason are always lovely!). This will help you stay on top of the work which includes 19 pieces of homework and four assessed quizzes. On average you can expect a couple of pieces of homework a month and will need to allow about 2 hours a week. Your practical skills will be assessed on the face-to-face training days. Please note it’s similar to doing an A level but we can be flexible; if the accreditation is not for you, you can attend without being assessed for the Certificate.
Cost
- £950 (general x 5) – full course & accreditation (payment by instalments available)
- £750 (unaccredited x 3) – full course without accreditation
- £300 (materials only) – access to online learning materials and course book only
- FREE (RHS Flourish x 8) – full course with or without accreditation subject to eligibility criteria below
RHS Flourish Places: These places are sponsored by the RHS and are open to black people and people of colour (BPOC) and/or those on a low income (below £19,000 p/a). A small bursary will be provided to each individual for lunch and travel to the face-to-face training days. We will accept 16 applications for the 8 places and will prioritise people who are both BPOC and low income. Deadline for applications is 5pm on 5th September and we’ll let you know if you have been successful by 7th September.
Pay-by-instalments: If you wish to pay-by-instalments please contact Jo prior to booking this ticket. The full cost of the course is £950 and you need to pay an initial deposit of £300 then set up a standing order for the remaining £650 as follows: 5 x £130 starting on 1st October payable on 1st of each month.
Please contact Jo Homan if you have any other queries: jo@theorchardproject.org.uk