Edmund Rice College, which caters to day and boarding students on the picturesque farmland of Bindoon, now offers a Certificate in Agriculture with an appointed agriculture trainer, with the option to incorporate Equine units.

The college’s farm offers students the opportunity to learn a wide variety of agricultural-based skills through hands-on involvement on an operational farm.

Agricultural studies at the college are open to any student, regardless of their previous experience, with highly experienced and qualified staff ensuring the safety and opportunity for success in completing the course and gaining future employment.

Among the highlights of the college’s offering are studies based around the popular and well-established Edmund Equine Centre, and an Equine program which has seens a high completion rate and excellent career opportunities for students after graduation.

Equine Co-ordinator and Agricultural Vocational Trainer and Assessor, Karen Nicoletta, said the learning opportunities offered byat the college offered a unique and rounded school experience.

“There’s very much a practical purpose to what we do as well as the mental well-being and spiritual aspect, that comes from the connection between the boarders and the horses,” she said.

“There is a real empathy and an awareness for behaviour that connects with the way that we operate,

“Sometimes the teachers bring the kids down to have a break from the classroom to spend time learning about the horses… for example, if you crowd them, you see how the horses feel, and they (students) can see the horses and understand how they respond, which is no different than what the students do sometimes,” she said.

Leontae Wilson (Tay Tay), a current year 12 boarding student, reflected on her experience of the wellbeing benefits of working with the animals at the college:

“It’s a good environment around here to work with all the animals… it’s calming and it just kind of makes me feel like I’m still at home even though I’m not at home,

“When I would have one of those bad days, I would just sometimes come down here and just sit with the horses for about 5-10 minutes and then feel good,” she said.

Edmund Rice College is a co–educational college catering to students in Years 7 to 12, with five single-gender boarding houses that provide an attractive option for many students and their caregivers seeking a friendly home away from home residential environment.

Staff at the colllegecollege support boarding students to develop a healthy lifestyle that balances social, academic, and physical aspects with a lot of fun, opportunities to make life-long friendships and fond memories.

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