Rural schooling may have suffered in recent years, but Taoroa School appears to have hit the mark.
Located about 20 minutes off inland State Highway 1 near Taihape, this school does education differently.
Along with your usual Maths and English, the school teaches practical subjects like gardening.
Teacher Arzjah Flavell told Seven Sharp it's about teaching students with "real world experiences and things that the kids actually do in their day-to-day life as well".
And now, there's a new compulsory subject on the curriculum – horsemanship.
Principal Lara Stevens said PE classes involved riding lessons.
"We could just see how amazing it was for the kids – they absolutely loved it."
She said the skills learned from the subject are "very practical".
"High country stations are all around us and a lot of the farming is done on horseback so it’s something that’s really unique to us," Stevens explained.
The subject is a pilot, with tweaks and reflections made every term before landing on their current lesson programme.
"We’re really happy with how it’s going," she said.
Stevens stressed the importance of learning outside the classroom.
"It provides that authentic learning context to take back into the classroom and it's part of something that's really unique to country schools.
"We're really proud of what we're doing."
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