Gonski and the Fruit Flies is a great name for a band. But it’s also essential to the continued functioning of an exceptional school.
To slightly misquote Einstein, education should be the ‘training of the mind to think of things that cannot be learned only from textbooks’. I think that’s what the Flying Fruit Fly Circus is all about. Our famous byline, Ordinary kids doing extraordinary things, sums it up so perfectly. It is not to say that our kids are ordinary, they are exceptional, but rather that any kid, from any background or circumstance, can fulfill their dreams and realise their full potential, if they have enough passion and apply themselves through commitment and hard work.
We are recognised as Australia’s national youth circus through Commonwealth funding from the Ministry for the Arts. We also receive State and local funding for our work as both a centre of training excellence and an award-winning performing arts company.
What sets us apart from most other national training institutions though, is the unique relationship we have with the public school system via the provision of Australia’s only full-time circus school.
The Flying Fruit Fly Circus School is an innovative partnership with the Victorian Department of Education and Childhood Development, and it supports our circus company to deliver world-class training and performance opportunities for young people aged between 8 and 18.
Founded – and hard fought for by the circus community – in 1987 as the groundbreaking Acrobatic Arts Community School it has allowed the Flying Fruit Fly Circus to grow and prosper, by meeting all the general educational needs of our students while crucially providing the flexibility to incorporate circus into the curriculum. In addition to the demands of delivering the educational program, it is required to account for the challenging demands of training schedules, rehearsals and performances. Not an easy balancing act (circus reference #1).
When our circus goes on tour, as we will with Circus Under My Bed at the Sydney Opera House and Control Alt Delete visiting 12 cities and towns in 2014, our school supplies a teacher and individual learning programs for each young artist in the cast. It sets up classrooms during rehearsals and in every sense, is our equal partner in the positive development of these extraordinary young people.
The status of the Flying Fruit Fly Circus School is, officially, an annex of the larger Wodonga Middle Years College campus. This relationship gives our school both its own autonomy and style, while also providing greater access to resources and support. It’s an excellent arrangement and, I think, a shiny wee gem in Victoria’s education system.
So, do the flips and backflips (circus reference #2) on Gonski mean much for our circus?
Gonski identified shortcomings in the funding model across the board, but in particular in the public education sector. And it is the public schools that largely meet the demands of young people and families who are the most vulnerable in our society and who need our greatest support, which is an expensive business.
We are committed to maintaining the lowest possible circus training fees – which our Government funding helps us achieve – because we want the broadest possible participation. When the “Fruities” began back in 1979 (we celebrate our 35th next year), it was a summer project for local kids. Accessibility and inclusion were at the heart of the endeavor and remain so today. Talent and passion, an aptitude for circus, are not confined to those with an ability to pay. So nurturing and protecting those young artists who may be experiencing difficulties at home or in their personal lives is a high priority for us, and it is our school, our often stretched public school, that largely provides these important additional services.
One concern raised by any revision of the Gonski model is that it could affect crucial access for our most at risk students, to personal counselling and wellbeing programs for example. These services need resourcing and should remain priorities for improvement and expansion.
I am passionate about the work we do here in regional Australia with young people and the positive difference I know we make. As a father, I am passionate about all young people having equal opportunities, regardless of what brand of schooling they receive. Gonski seems to level the playing field and with the unexpected announcement that the Government will now honour Labor’s agreements and reinstate $1.2b in funding, its principles appear to have been partly safeguarded for now.
To end with another quote, Aristotle said, ‘the roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet’. Let’s hope so.
The Flying Fruit Fly Circus receives annual funding from the Commonwealth through the Ministry for the Arts.
