Thanks for your interest in our Certificate in Community Orcharding (CICO)! 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 community orchards across London, and top up your learning at home with over 100 online resources.
This 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 170 students becoming qualified orchardists. This course will be known as CICO13.

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 becoming part of our informal orcharding network.

"This is the best course I've ever done!" Franki, CICO8

"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

"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, CICO6

"I'm now a project manager at a Forest Garden and I could not have got this job without my CICO experience." Bethany, CICO7

What to expect

Face-to-face days - You must attend all of these to be able to gain the Certificate. Each day runs from 10:00-16:00 except for the June date which is 12:00-18:00:

• Tue 6th Feb - Planting & Pruning - The Russ (Church Grove), Lewisham, SE13
• Mon 25th Mar - Grafting, Biodiversity & Pests and Diseases - Stave Hill Ecological Park, Southwark, SE16
• Mon 22nd Apr - Orchard Introduction - Stave Hill, SE16
• Tue 14th May - Soil & Surveying - Sufra, Brent, NW10
• Sat 22nd Jun - Group Work - Calthorpe Project, Camden, WC1X (NB later time - 12:00-18:00)
• Mon 22nd Jul - Orchard Design - The Russ, SE13
• Mon 5th Aug - Summer Grafting & Pruning - The Salopian Garden, Hounslow, TW7

Online resources - 45 films and powerpoints (with subtitles), 26 interactive quizzes and 33 pieces of online reading material. The training platform will be available a few weeks 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 14th Jan, 16:00-17:30 - introductory Zoom 1 OR

• Wed 17th Jan, 18:00-19:30 - introductory Zoom 2

Workload - To support the online materials and the face-to-face training you'll have access to friendly tutors and of course, your fellow students. This will help you stay on top of the work, which includes 12 pieces of homework and 7 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. There are two longer pieces of homework: a site survey (set in May with a deadline in June) and an orchard design (set in July with a deadline in August). 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 or you can suggest different forms of assessment.

Cost

• FREE* (8 places) to full course with or without accreditation - see eligibility to apply criteria below
• £1,100 (general, max 9) - full course & accreditation (payment by instalments available)
• £800 (unaccredited, max 2) - full course without accreditation (payment by instalments available)
• £500 (materials only x 2) - access to online learning materials and course book only

*FREE City Bridge Trust places x 8. Deadline to apply Sunday 3rd December 2023. These 8 places are sponsored by City Bridge Trust and are open to people who must be unemployed, economically inactive or on low income (below £20,000 p.a) and living in London. Once you have applied for one of the free places we will assess your application and prioritise people who are also from a minoritised group and/or aged 18-30. To apply, select the 'Free CBT' ticket and fill out the booking form. The deadline for applications is midnight on Sun 3rd December and we'll let you know if you have been successful by Wed 6th December.

Pay-by-instalments: If you wish to pay-by-instalments please contact sarah@theorchardproject.org.uk prior to booking this ticket. The full cost of the course is £1,100 and you need to pay an initial deposit of £200 then set up a monthly standing order for £150 starting in February and ending in July 2024 (£150 x 6). For unaccredited tickets, you will pay an initial £140 and then £110 for 6 months. Please contact jo@theorchardproject.org.uk if you have any other queries.

External links for financial support:

• Professional Gardeners' Trust
• The Worshipful Company of Gardeners
• Perennial
• Vegan Organic Network