Flock House for contest final

Press, 29 May 1985, Page 23

Flock House for contest final

Two names heavily associated with continuing rural education and farming skill will combine in July to test the knowledge of seven young farmers.

The occasion will be the practical stage of the Skellerup Young Farmer of the Year contest final to be held at Flock House, one of New Zealand’s oldest and most respected farm learning centres. Situated close to the small farming town of Bulls, Flock House station was founded in 1924 with a series of courses designed to give boys a new start on the land. The centre was established from a fund raised by New Zealand sheep owners to acknowledge their 1914-18

war debt to British seamen.

At first, only the sons of British seamen who died in the war were admitted. They were often unruly types who were taught farm skills in a heavily disciplined manner.

There is nothing unruly about today’s pupils who come from all walks of life, both town and country, to attend the variety of courses at the centre.

Mr Ray Craven, who took over as principal in 1983 from the well-known former All Black coach, Mr J. J. Stewart, is keen to preserve the school’s tradition of learning by experience, a system he terms as “experimental mastery learning.”

An example is the introduction of a farmlet project where students are responsible for one hectare minifarms. Classroom knowledge is put into practice.

“It’s moving away from teaching just skills to teaching farm enterprise,” says Mr Craven.

As well as the one-year courses for school leavers and land-settlement courses for adults, farmer courses are held and can range from farm welding and fencing to sub-tropical fruits and advanced business management.

In-service courses are held for staff of the Ministry of Agriculture, and Flock House which, with accommodation facilities

for more than 200 people, is often used as a conference centre.

The campus includes five accommodation wings, a library block, staff offices, five main classrooms, engineering, mechanical and carpentry workshops and a recreational hall, an indoor swimming pool, squash and tennis courts and sports field.

A 1400 ha block divided into six farms accompanies the school. There are prime lamb, cropping, sheep and cattle breeding, bull beef and dairy farms. Income from the farms is returned to a consolidated revenue account and Flock House is run on a yearly grant.