Course: Community Orchard Certificate
The Orchard Project
Our upcoming course will equip you with the skills necessary for effective orchard management,
particularly of veteran trees.
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 interesting sites mostly in South West London, topping up your learning at home with over 100 online resources.
The Level 3 course is accredited by Crossfields Institute and involves some homework. We've been running this training for professionals since 2017 and it's been hugely successful, with over 200 students becoming certified orchardists. This course will be known as CICO16!
What can I gain from this course?
The course covers:
- Veteran tree care
- Tree identification, physiology and taxonomy
- Tree planting, pruning and grafting
- Soil science and fertility
- Apple identification
- Managing the groups caring for orchards
- Holistic orchard management, including biodiversity and integrated pest management
Many of our students already work or would like to work in the horticultural sector in roles such as rangers, community garden managers or horticultural therapists. Not only will this course give you skills and experience needed to help you progress, but you'll also benefit from being part of our inclusive orcharding network.
"After CICO I worked at TOP for 6 months. I am now a freelancer working for a fruit and nut growing project in Birmingham." Cath
"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
"I have done some marking for The Orchard Project and also have a client booked in to prune their fruit tree. Found BOTH these opportunities through The Orchard Project." Mirjam
"I'm now a project manager at a Forest Garden and I could not have got this job without my CICO experience." Bethany
"This is the best course I've ever done!" Franki
"The Orchard Project CICO and the AFG courses were both excellent and I have recently highly recommended them to others I've met on other workshops and events. The expertise and passion of the tutors and meeting other like-minded folk from across the UK was a wonderfully enriching experience." Hina
What to expect
To introduce the training platform and for a course overview, you should attend one of these Zoom meetings:
- Wed 3rd Sep, 18:00-19:30 - introductory Zoom OR
- Sun 7th Sep, 16:00-17:30 - introductory Zoom
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:
- Sat 18th Oct - Orchard Intro - Kingston Edible Forest, Kingston Upon Thames (date tbc)
- Sat 15th or 22nd Nov - Groups - BedZed Community Pavilion, Sutton (venue tbc)
- Sat 6th Dec - Soil - Sutton Community Farm, Sutton
- Sat 17th Jan - Planting & Pruning - (venue tbc)
- Sat 21st Feb - Veteran Tree Care - Bethlem veteran orchard, Bromley
- Sat 7th Mar - Grafting and Care Plans - Morden Hall, Merton (date and venue tbc)
- Sat 9th May - Biodiversity - Waltham Abbey, Essex
Online elements
45 films and PowerPoints (with subtitles), 26 interactive quizzes and 33 downloadable PDFs. The training platform will be available a few days before the course starts and for a year after it finishes. All of our resources are unique and produced by us or with expert guests.
Workload
To support the online materials and the face-to-face training, you'll have access to our friendly tutors and of course, your fellow students. This will help you stay on top of the work, which includes 13 pieces of homework and 8 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 to complete it.
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
- £1,210 (general, max 7) - full course & accreditation (payment by instalments available)
- £860 (concessionary, max 2) - full course & accreditation (payment by instalments available)
- £860 (unaccredited, max 2) - full course without accreditation (payment by instalments available)
- £400 (materials only x 2) - access to online learning materials and course book only
Concessionary places: For those who are unemployed, economically inactive or on low income (below £20,000 p.a.).
Non-accredited places: Attend the training days, use all the resources on the platform but don't hand in any homework.
Pay-by-instalments: If you wish to pay-by-instalments please contact [email protected] prior to booking this ticket. The full cost of the course is £1,210 and you need to pay an initial deposit of £250 then set up a monthly standing order for £120 starting in Aug and ending in Mar 2025 (£120 x 8). For concessionary and unaccredited tickets, you will pay an initial £140 and then £90 for 8 months.
Please contact [email protected] if you have any other queries.
External links for financial support: