News

Due to the “stir up” that Sheelagh had caused within the local community (see article below) a lot more of the media started to jump on board.

As of next Wednesday (15 Feb) THE ONE SHOW are coming up to Bigland to film the School’s in action and to talk to those that are on the biting end to this campaign to knock Equestrianism off the League tables.

As many of you that have worked closely with Bigland know, The schemes we have but together within Cumbria Rural Academy for the school children aren’t just about providing a services, but an opportunity to give teenagers a career as an alternative to academia. We want to promote Equestrianism in the area as a recognised Olympic Sport and encourage people to take part in a growing industry.

Our Youth is the start to that future.

As reported in the Westmorland Gazette:

A FURNESS equestrian teacher has blasted a decision to strip thousands of vocational courses of GCSE status. Education Secretary Michael Gove said this week that he wanted to downgrade vocational subjects which he claimed encourage young people to take courses that led nowhere. The announcement follows a review of vocational education by Prof Alison Wolf, a public policy expert, who said pupils were being directed towards courses which did not teach ‘broad skills’.

Tim Farron, MP showing support for Horse Qualifications

Sheila Myers, of Bigland Hall equestrian centre at Newby Bridge, said she was ‘horrified’ that horse care would no longer count as a GCSE equivalent. Mrs Myers said her centre taught veterinary, mathematics and essay writing skills which leds to a ‘vast amount’ of well-paid jobs. She pointed out that in the past decade local schools had been encouraging children who had not been successful with traditional subjects to take up a vocation.

“There is a vast amount of careers offered to students who have been successful in equestrianism,” said Mrs Myers, who teaches around 30 pupils a year. Quite a lot of the kids we have had may not have been doing that well at school but we have been able to turn their lives around.”

One of her graduates is now a farrier at Buckingham Palace and others have become riding instructors who are paid wages comparable to teachers.

“The schools will no longer encourage students to take up subjects like horse care as they have to think about their league tables,” said Mrs Myers. “I can’t believe the decision was made so quickly. There seems to have been no consultation. Subjects like performing arts, which have very limited job prospects, have remained as a GCSE where equestrian classes have been dropped.”

MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale Tim Farron said he was ‘very concerned’ about it. “It shows quite a snobbery towards certain subjects,” said Mr Farron. “The ministers involved don’t seem to realise what life is like in the real world. Vocational courses might be marginal subjects but we live in a multi-skilled society and we need a work force that reflects that.”

He said he would discuss the matter in the House of Commons and was hopeful the final decision would not be as bleak as predicted.

We now have the Spring schedule of events out! With loads of events and clinics for everyone why not come along? The big one this spring is the Hollings Showing Clinic that is happening in March.

Penny Hollings is a renowned showing champion who has competed in some of the most prestigious shows in the country like HOYS! Her daughter is now following in her footsteps and is looking at a brillinat showing career ahead of her. On March 11th Penny is coming to us to give us some expert showing advice in our first ever Showing Clinic!

Book a place now! Tickets also available for viewing at only £3!!

A Commended for the Bigland Team!

Staff Ride Out

This month we had both our annual Vet Inspection and BHS Inspection, both of which are incredibly important to sustain the courses and instruction we offer at Bigland. We managed to pass both with a Commended and Highly Commended in some areas. This would not of been possible without our dedicated team at Bigland who worked tirelessly to make this happen! Well done guys!

They celebrated the occasion by going on a staff ride out. This was rather interesting as we had a few… interesting combination of horses out! But it was incredibly fun and brilliant weather throughout.

Zara and Steadhall Renaissance (known to us as Ren!) traveled down to Myerscough at the end of October to Compete in the Petplan Regional’s that they qualified for over the summer. They were to compete in the Medium Restricted early on Thursday the 27th been the second combination to go in the competition. They attained a fantastic score of 65%! After an agonixing wait for the rest of the competitors to finish their tests the results to come out. They managed to win the whole competition as well as Qualify for the Medium Restrict National at Hartbury in April!

However, that’s not all! She then went down to Myerscough the next day to compete in the Elementary Open Qualifier. Again, they attained a fantastic result coming 4th and snapping a qualifying place for the Nationals! A fantastic result and we all wish her luck!

Guy Fawkes Themed Pony Club Day!

Pony Club Games

We had a brilliant time on the 5th Novemeber at our Themed Pony Club Day! We started out at 1pm with some pony club games. These included a Guy Fawkes Relay where you had to transport your stuffed Guy Fawkes from member to member! This proved interesting with some of the horses, but everyone managed it! We finished of the games with a staff apple bobbing race. This proved to be incredibly entertaining with all the staff including Lyndsy and Zara jumping on the kids ponies and cantering up to the apple bobbing bucket, jumping off and getting absolutely drenched getting an apple before cantering back down to their team!

We then had an amazing buffet (funded by our tombola!) with so much food even the Pony Clubbers couldn’t finish it all! After that we burned off all those extra choclate biscuits and cakes with some games including a Puissance on foot!

A brilliant day and we hope to run some more themed Pony Club days so keep up to date with our events!