Equestrian lessons proving class act at St Hedda's Primary School
Since the start of this school year pupils attending lessons at St Hedda’s Catholic School have been riding high, both inside their grade II listed 18th century classroom in the Esk Valley village of Egton Bridge, near Whitby, and at a nearby equestrian centre.
In what could be a first by a state-funded primary school, all children have taken part in weekly horse riding and stable management lessons as part of the physical education element of the curriculum taught.
The first question for many might be how a state-run school afford to take all its pupils to Borrowby Equestrian Centre near Staithes on a regular basis.
While a number of independent schools include equestrian pursuits on their prospectus, St Hedda’s has managed to bypass the financial obstacle of providing them that represents an insurmountable financial hurdle for many publicly-maintained schools.
With just 15 pupils, aged three to 11, St Hedda’s is among the country’s smallest schools, but rather than allow it to threaten the future of lessons there it has opted to take advantage of its dimunitive roll.
Amie Bartoli, Trust Associate Leader, said: “We are a unique, exceptionally small school and what I’ve tried to do is lean into that as it gives us a huge amount of scope to do things that bespoke that would be thought of as logistically impossible in a typical school with classes of 30. We really do want to broaden horizons.
“Some children really excel at maths, some at English and some of our children don’t excel in academic subjects, but have loads of other strengths and talents.
"A couple of my girls love horse riding so we wanted them to be successful and share that gift with all of their school mates.
"We do lots of things together, as a whole school, from aged three to 11.”
Mrs Bartoli said the children had supported each other and had helped each other to overcome any initial nerves with the ponies.
She said the school aims for the children to “feel very connected to the area in which they are growing up”, an area where horses play an important role in the community.
She said: “The Esk Valley is an amazing location and horse riding felt like an extension of Forest School and Beach School lessons, where children could be outside, doing a sport that children in a city school wouldn’t have that opportunity. In the summer term we’re going to do a block of surfing lessons.
“We’re hoping to continue the riding lessons after Christmas. We have found it has had a huge impact in the classroom on the children in a way that we didn’t expect.”
Teachers at St Hedda’s are reporting they have seen a visible improvement in children who found it difficult to sit in lessons and take part in the written work, but now have improved core strength after just one block of horse riding.
Mrs Bartoli said: “We’re also thrilled by the empathy and engagement that the children are showing during the lessons, because they did stable management as well as the riding.”
Parents of the children also say they have noticed the impact of the riding lessons.
Leanne Coates said: “Our children can’t stop talking about this amazing opportunity and as parents we feel so lucky that they enjoy so many amazing opportunities at this school.”
The children have learnt about the different diets for the horses, mucking out, bedding as well as about the jobs of the wider team at the stables, such have observed the farrier at work.
The initiative combines physical activity with mental wellbeing, giving pupils hands-on experience in caring for horses. The children have also ridden ponies in the arena and on scenic treks, developing confidence, resilience and teamwork.
Such programmes at the school led Ofsted to grade St Hedda’s as outstanding in all areas earlier this year. Inspectors noted the school’s “happy and welcoming rural environment” where pupils thrive academically, socially, and emotionally.
Mrs Bartoli said: “Sometimes schools offer tasters of activities, but I wanted it to form part of our curriculum, that we’re learning the skill of horse riding and that the children were progressing. They all started by learning how to mount a horse and now following eight lessons have are all able to trot around the arena.
“There was an electric atmosphere in school when they returned from their first lesson. The excitement was palpable. I think a few children will probably be asking for ponies for Christmas! I am geting a lot of nagging that this is going to stay on our curriculum.”