Rock 'N Roll' Fundraiser For Brooke Valley School

Apr 11, 2013

Students, staff and supporters of the Brooke Valley School near Maberly demonstrated what community spirit is all about and busted move after move on the dance floor at the community hall in Maberly on Saturday April 6.

The school's fundraiser event featured on stage the talents of Terry Tufts, his wife Kathryn Briggs along with Don Kenny, Ken Workman and Sean Burke as they performed an evening of Rolling Stones hits that kept the crowd on their feet.

The school, which opened 38 years ago, in 1975, was begun by a handful of young parent back-to-the-landers, many of whom were professional teachers who wanted to educate their kids closer to home.

I spoke with one of those parents, Coral Nault, now a grandmother many times over, who teaches the school's 14 students in grades 1 through 8. “It was back in 1975 that we contacted the Ministry of Education to find out how to start our own school. We got all of the information and were granted permission, and the school has been running ever since,” Nault said.

The school was originally located in a house, and in 1979 it was moved into a 1860 log building. The parents renovated the building but it burned down a few years later, in 1981. The present day school building is located at 190 Seaborne on 300 acres of land. It was built the same year through fundraising dollars along with free labour given by parents and supporters. The two storey building consists of two main areas: one upper more traditional classroom with desks, and a lower classroom area that serves as the art, lunch room, and stage area. The school's curriculum follows the Ministry of Education guidelines and then some, and it offers an extensive theatre and art component as well as outdoor education, hiking and outdoor sports activities.

The school also boasts its very own archeological dig site where the old log house once stood. With Nault, who is also a trained illustrator and theatre buff (students perform four shows a year), students are getting more than their fair share of fine art and theatre studies while she is ruling the roost. “The kids here get a lot of confidence from theatre and performance and academically they have no problems at all.”

Nault said that when she and the other parents started out, they never imagined that the school would be around almost four decades later. “We never thought others would want their kids to attend and in fact we thought we were just building a school for our own children. This year my last grandchild is in school with me.” She said that if the school had eventually closed, the parents had plans to turn it into a retirement home. But that plan has never needed to be pursued.

Tufts and his band opened the evening with the rousing Stones classic Satisfaction which got all ages out of their seats and was followed by countless very danceable classics. A highlight of the evening took place when current and former students at the school joined the band on stage for “Wild Horses” and “You Can't Always Get What You Want”.

The latter song, however, has not applied to the visionary Brooke Valley School parents; for them, rather, it has been the case that if you have the will, know how and determination - you can get exactly what you want.