August 16, 2013
There’s a high school with a difference running at Ficks Crossing, near Murgon; a school that teaches maths and English and other necessary life skills, but also teaches its students how to survive in the rough and tumble world of rodeo.
Fifteen students are currently enrolled, and for many it’s the first time they’ve really engaged with the education system.
The Ficks Crossing Rodeo School, which has been running for five weeks now, is a project of the Shaftesbury Centre.
Shaftesbury can trace its roots back to London in 1843 when William Williams, a solicitor’s clerk, decided education was the best way to break the cycle of poverty among street children. His work attracted the patronage of Lord Shaftesbury who in 1866 used his influence to secure the use of an old warship, the Chichester. This was followed in 1874 by the Arethusa. The ships were used to train boys for a future naval career.
Fast forward to 2013, and Shaftesbury is operating a number of schools and training centres in Queensland, including Arethusa College at Deception Bay, a skateboard factory in Brisbane and three equine therapy centres.
Their latest venture is the rodeo school at Ficks Crossing and an equine therapy program at the adjacent Silver Lining complex.
The school is a registered Independent school and follows the normal State curriculum but it has been structured to catch the children who, for whatever reason, have fallen through the cracks in the State School system.
The former Ficks Crossing outdoor recreation centre, which Shaftesbury has leased from the South Burnett Regional Council, already had a building which was suitable to use as a schoolhouse but the group now plans to extend this so that up to 25 students can be taught.
The first batch of students have worked to erect fencing around the site, and a large portable rodeo ring has already been installed.
School principal Chris Andrews said the school had also applied for funding to erect a 70m x 35m undercover rodeo area on the site.
“We would be able to run events for the public,” he said. “We already have public toilets and we would be able to hold some decent events here.”
The students, who come from Wondai, Murgon and Cherbourg, attend school from 10:00am to 2:00pm, five days a week, However, unlike regular schools, they don’t stop for a long lunch break or morning tea.
They spend 70 minutes on academic work, 70 minutes on small group work and 70 minutes working with the rodeo animals.
Each Friday, they put on a mini-rodeo for their parents and friends, who come to the school to watch the students in the ring.
A few of them will also be showing their new-found skills at the Wondai Show on August 31.
“The idea is to give the kids something they really want to do as well as the skills they need to achieve in life – basic literacy, numeracy and confidence,” Chris said.
“And they’re responding well to that.”
- Related article: Rodeo School For Ficks Crossing
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