Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
ABC News
ABC News
National
Millie Roberts and Xanthe Gregory

Children of Sydney Royal Easter Show workers taught in mobile classrooms

Some of the children in their travelling classroom. (ABC News: Xanthe Gregory)

Travelling workers at the Sydney Royal Easter Show are making sure their children's studies continue during the busy period.

The workers — known as "showies" — are often on the road year-round following the show circuit.

Their families join them town-to-town and have done so for generations. 

"I love it, it's what I've done all my life. I've never done nothing else," travelling showman Aaron Pink told the ABC from the campground in Sydney's Concord.

"It's my way of life and it's a tremendous way of life. You're living with your family, you're going to work with your family."

However, a life on the road doesn't undermine the school term.

Classrooms across the country may have closed for the long weekend, but over the full duration of the Sydney Royal Easter Show, show family children will continue their lesson plans before heading up north to the Hawkesbury area.

Aaron Pink sits at the campground with some of the travelling kids (ABC News: Xanthe Gregory)

A classroom on wheels

Kate Jones is a volunteer travelling teacher working on-site from the back of a van.

She initially came across the gig after fostering a show child studying for their Higher School Certificate, and has been helping out on-and-off for the last three years.

"So many of these children have great ambitions," she said of her latest students.

"One of the boys inside wants to be a fighter pilot."

But unlike a traditional classroom, Ms Jones doesn't know who will be regularly sitting in on her lessons.

"From one week to the next, we don't know who might be in town."

Her plan of attack is  to follow the curriculum set out by the state Department of Education, which ensures she covers everything that a "regular school child" gets to learn.

Every student has their own laptop and she said the internet consistently runs fast and strong for activities.

While it isn't the full conventional experience, she's noted a shift over the decades towards broadening the options available to the show family children.

"Many of the families of my generation and the adults are illiterate, and they have such a strong ethical desire for their children and grandchildren to be able to move out into the world and have choices that they didn't have," Ms Jones said.

Nomadic pupils 

Five-year-old Violet Blades has just started up at the travelling school where she has been practising the alphabet and counting up to the number 10.

Her parents sell churros and slushies at an Easter Show stand.

"(They have) one tent that makes a drink, one that makes food and one that's a game," she said. 

Five-year-old Violet sits down for a lesson at the travelling school (ABC News: Xanthe Gregory)

Fellow pupil Charles Bell doesn't feel like he's missing out on the traditional brick-and-mortar experience.

In fact, the seven-year-old, who's parents run rides at shows, believes he's actually got a better deal than other students.

"They would be jealous that we move to different towns and meet different people," he said.

The Sydney Royal Easter Show runs until April 17.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.