Supporting our local community
Plumpton College is committed to supporting our local community and the wider land based sector during these unprecedented times.
We are working with our partner network to provide a central source of useful information and advice on the issues impacting the sector as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, and will regularly update and add information to this page as it becomes available.
If you're a business, organisation or sector body, who has relevant information that you feel would be beneficial, please contact us at commercial@plumpton.ac.uk.
We have a large and far reaching network and even if we are unable to help, we'll certainly have a connection to someone who can.
If you're a business or an individual in need of support or guidance, or would like to speak to us about any aspect of training or workforce development, please fill in our enquiry form below, and we'll get back to you as soon as we possibly can.
Useful links
For the community and our employees and employers.
For employees and employers:
- For the latest UK Goverment advice for employees and employers - Click here
- AHDB's Covid-19 advice for farmers and growers - Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board
- NFU's Covid-19 impact survey per sector - National Farmers' Union
- Locate East Sussex Covid-19 business support and guidance - Locate East Sussex
- South East Business Hub Covid-19 guidance for employers and businesses - South East Business Hub
- Lewes and Eastbourne Council - Help for Businesses Page
- South Downs National Park Authority - Supporting Communities and Business
- Acas gives employees and employers free, impartial advice on workplace rights, rules and best practice. We also offer training and help to resolve disputes. Click here to find out more
- Crowdfunder Pay it Forward campaign aimed to help small businesses to pre-sell their services and diversify trading now to ensure continuous cash flow. Crowdfunder is covering all platform and transaction fees making it free to small businesses. This campaign is nationwide and someone who is self-employed, a micro or small businesses can set-up a Pay it forward campaign here
For information on immediate vacancies within the sector please visit the following sites;
For the community:
Food and drink:
- Food and drink producers still delivering in Lewes - Click here
- Brighton food bank - for further information on how you can support or donate - Click here
- Brighton and Hove Food Partnership for food access volunteering and more - Click here
Horticulture:
- Local Plants and Flowers Available in Your Area - Click here
- Helping people in horticulture - Perennial
- Keep up to date with coronavirus horticulture news from Horticulture Week - Click here
Exercise:
- Brighton & Hove Healthwalks Facebook group, with community challenges and discussions - Click here
- Coronavirus and your wellbeing from Mind - Click here
- The Positive Birth Company, providing tips for pregnant women during pandemic - Click here
- Madeira Drive in Brighton to close to allow easier social distancing walks along the seafront, find out more here
- PE with Joe Wicks for the whole family - Click here
- Free yoga classes online, to keep you grounded and calm - Click here
Learning:
- Lockdown Learning - free online resources encouraging children to find out more about food and where it comes from - Eat Farm Now
- One Garden Brighton in association with Plumpton College - free worksheets for primary aged children written by our learning outreach division - Download them here:
- Nature Detective Bronze Level 1
- Nature Detective Bronze Level 2
- Nature Detective Silver 1
- Nature Detective Silver 2 Information & Links
- Nature Detective Silver 2
Advice about coronavirus scams
We have been made aware that there is a high rate of reports from online scams during the coronavirus pandemic. Please be vigilant for anything unusual you may see on social media platforms, emails, text or WhatsApp messages, fake websites and even phone calls.
To help members of the public protect themselves from becoming a victim of fraud, Cifas, the UK’s fraud prevention service, is advising:
- Be sceptical if you receive an email, text or WhatsApp message about the Coronavirus, and never click on any attachments or links
- Never provide personal data such as your full name, address and date of birth – scammers can use this information to steal your identity
- Don’t allow yourself to be pressured into donating money, and never make donations by cash or gift card, or send money through transfer agents such as Western Union or Moneygram
- If you think you’ve been the victim of a scam, then speak to your bank immediately and report any fraud to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040
Free school meal scam
Please keep an eye out for the following email about free school meals from unknown email addresses, as this is scam: 'As schools will be closing, if you're entitled to free school meals, please send your bank details and we'll make sure you're supported.'
We can confirm that this is a scam email and is not official. We urge parents that if you receive any emails like this, please do not respond and delete it immediately.
Enquire now
Please fill in our enquiry form with your specific query.
