Marra Creek principal Anita Moore with her entire student body, Lucy Earl, Archie Ray, Ida Dawson, Jet Hall and Harry Ray / Picture: Peter Lorimer Source: News Limited WITH one hand on the weathered reins and the other grasping a dog-eared Harry Potter novel, Ida Dawson begins her daily trot to school. Her giant steed Trumbie knows the way, having guided the Grade Six student through the scrub, across the parched plains and into the swinging school gates hundreds of times, sharing the journey with herds of wild pigs, flighty emus and kangaroos. The classroom at Marra Creek Public School / Picture: Peter Lorimer Source: News Limited So Ida, devout in her literary worship, sits back in the saddle and loses herself in the fantasy novel, her eyes unbroken from the text despite the bumpy hour-long ride, or diverted by the menagerie of wildlife. This is Ida's near-daily routine; riding from her remote family homestead to the smallest school in New South Wales - Marra Creek Public School, alma mater for five pupils in a "town" that is nothing more than a classroom and a dusty playground. It's 80-odd minutes down a pot-holed track to get to the nearest township of Nyngan. Some roads are impassable when it rains. Hence the reason Ida started taking a horse to school _ and not for show and tell. I ride in the rain because our road is terrible. That's how I started riding to school, it was wet and we couldn't drive there. The horse knows the way home. I just sit back and read a book," the 12-year-old said, clutching her thick ponytail. Marra Creek Public School / Picture: Peter Lorimer Source: News Limited Four pairs of shoes, all of different sizes and colours, sit on the doorstep to Marra Creek Public Schools' classroom beside Ida's riding boots and her white helmet. Archie and Harry Ray are brothers, footy pals, partners in classroom crime, and the only lads in the schoolyard. They can't entertain any fighting between them, despite their rite to do so as siblings. Who else would they play with? Girls? It's fun here. I get to kick the footy with Archie. There used to be another boy here, but he got too old for school," the seven-year-old grade one student said. Does he like reading, the task he is undertaking today? Umm, I guess only a little bit. A few front teeth short of a set, his shirt wildly untucked and his attention waning, Harry yearns for his lunch break, where his sneakers will lay into a Steeden and his brother,three years his senior and the school's only grade four student, will hone his step. There's always plenty of room for everyone at the Marra Creek Public School wash basin / Picture: Peter Lorimer Source: News Limited Jet Hall and Lucy Earl, eight years tender and holding down the fort in grade three are neighbours, despite their homes being 10 kilometres apart. They sit together in the hi-tech classroom which boasts more computers than students, and attempt language contractions on the electronic whiteboard. Can you put that in a sentence? Principal and teacher Anita Moore asks with repetition. Before the lesson commenced, in the school ground under the shade of a gum tree, the adorable pair builds a makeshift stockyard of toy animals with a horseback herder playing his role dutifully. The exotic animals though are cast aside _ the lions, zebras and elephants. This is the world these girls know; acting out the roles they've seen their own fathers do for a living. When the contractions are in place, the five turn their desks away from each other, and distractions, and begin their individual work: Harry wielding the glue stick like a sword, Archie practising his written words, the young girls spelling together, while Ida buries her head in Lord of the Flies. Ida Dawson, 12, rides her horse to school most days ... rain, hail, or shine ... a round trip of two hours / Picture: Peter Lorimer Source: News Limited Ms Moore moves between them, raving about each student and their various strengths that she has helped fashion in three rewarding years, in the face of obvious hurdles: teaching composite, from grade one to grade six in the one classroom, at the one time. This is her pride; her handiwork; her affection. When I first drove out here I thought `this is interesting. It was just as I hoped, a little oasis out in the middle of nowhere. The kids are wonderful. You couldn't ask for a better little job. And there is heaps of excitement at our school. Before a recess of fruit, the five perform some dance moves to get the blood flowing and break the monotony of their ABCs. The diminutive school, which went into recess a few years ago when numbers fell to two, boasts its fair share of equipment and facilities, from its shed full of sporting gear, to an undercover playground (built with Building the Education Revolution funding), covered eating area, a pebbled basketball court, and a principals residence. And a place to tie up horses. Marra Creek principal Anita Moore puts Lucy Earl through her paces in an English lesson / Picture: Peter Lorimer Source: News Limited Nor is it a school devoid of extra-curricular activities and sports carnivals that are the domain of large schools. A circus of different instructors have forged a path through the scrub to lend their expertise to the kids: dance teachers, martial arts instructors, gymnastics coaches, actors, scientists and musicians all employed for a term at a time. "We also use our video conferencing which is in the classroom - and link up with other small schools on combined projects and we combine with other schools for sports carnivals," Ms Moore said. Parent Leanne Hall says the community would dissolve if not for the school, which unites families together, even those who don't have kids. The community virtually revolves around the school for the families in the district. And the kids are pretty close," says Ms Hall, who has doubled as the districts polocross club secretary for 20 years. Friend and fellow parents Sophia Ray volunteers to clean the school grounds and turns up with her own broom. Lucy Earl does her best to keep tabs on the lesson / Picture: Peter Lorimer Source: News Limited We wouldn't have stayed here if it wasn't for the school. My husband is a contract worker so we don't actually own a property here. We would've moved on for sure. It is such a great community and people work hard at keeping it going," she said. You get more one-on-one time with the teacher, so they certainly don't miss out on anything. Harry is mad about the land. It would be a bit of a culture shock if we ever had to move. Next year, Marra Creek Public School's roll call will fall by 20 per cent. It will be a school of four, with the intelligent Ida moving into grade seven, homeschooled for one year before joining the well-worn country path towards the city boarding schools. Harry Ray, 7, goes for a romp with the football next to the school playground / Picture: Peter Lorimer Source: News Limited Ms Moore will also move on having completed her three-year post. She will miss the community, the kids that have warmed her heart, and the opportunity that being a principal provides. And the remoteness, which she begins to reminisce upon long after the school gate closes and Trumbie takes Ida back home. Now all she has for company is a full glass of wine, the music of the countryside, some friendly kangaroos, and a whole lot of serenity. Till the bell rings the next morning. Harry Ray, 7, hard at in the classroom / Picture: Peter Lorimer Source: News Limited