WHAT’S ON TOP? Then there were none . . . Helen Kinsey-Wightman
Three weeks ago 50 community members assembled in my classroom to hear the news that we had one child remaining on our roll and that following that consultation our Board would be meeting to make the decision to apply for voluntary closure. I think the only thing worse than listening to those 50 people lamenting the loss of their school would have been the same meeting with only 5 people present. It’s not that my community don’t care about having a school – they do. Like many rural areas, our farmers’ children have been through the school and moved on to high school, and as farms have become larger we have fewer families in our district. In addition rural parents travel into town more frequently and with this mobility comes more choice with regard to schools. Over the last 2 years our roll has declined until the point where we lost our junior room teacher and became sole charge at the end of 2012. We started 2013 with a roll of 5 – whilst this meant children had superb academic support the social aspects of learning are harder with such a small number of children and although we worked very hard to keep the atmosphere upbeat and positive, all of our staff acknowledged that our school didn’t feel the same. Pet Day would not be an event with 2 lambs and 5 children cannot create a Christmas Concert. We were frequently visiting our nearest school for the children to get the normal social and learning interactions that should be part of everyday life both in the classroom and in the playground. For the 4 families of the last 5 children it has been a tough year. For the very loyal parents of the only remaining boy in the school it was heart breaking for them to decide to move him – and his departure was the catalyst for the others to follow. The most difficult aspect of this situation for our Board, all of them community members who have had children at the school or been to the school themselves as children, is that even with only one child on the roll the ministry will not close a school unless performance is poor – ours was not. This was one of the recurring themes of the meeting – people recalled times in the distant past when the teaching at the school had been pretty terrible, yet the community had kept their children there
because it was their local school. These community members felt particularly perplexed that teaching is good, the school is well supported, children are happy and yet parents feel the need to take children to a larger school where they will have more friends of their own age or gender. Our last child is now happily settled at another school and I am Principal of a school with no children. If I have ever joked that teaching would be a great job if it weren’t for the children then I can definitely tell you it’s no laughing matter! One thing that has made me smile has been some of the suggestions for entrepreneurial ways in which we can keep our school going until our local farmers’ children are ready to take over farms and produce the required children. My favourite came in an email from an elderly lady who has come up with an idea that could revolutionise the social order of New Zealand. She suggests we get a bus, travel to town and round up all of the ‘naughty boys’ and bring them out to the country. We will then billet them with local farmers whose wives will feed them wholesome meals and put them to bed early while the farmers will work them hard and teach them to build fences. Meanwhile, at school we will teach them to knit peggy squares (fortunately my Nana was a keen knitter and I learned to knit scarves for my teddies from an early age so this is well within my skill set) to send to those less fortunate. For mathematics we will raise calves and take them to the sale yards calculating our costs and the profit made. She spoke of her own difficult experiences at school as a dyslexic child and offered to be a penpal for these children. Whilst several colleagues in town have offered me the pick of their naughty boys – and girls! – a major stumbling block seems to be that, despite suggesting the idea to several farmers, I am yet to get any definite offers of billets – which rather leaves me awaiting the Minister’s response to our closure request. I know that there are quite a number of Principals who had their first experience of Principalship at Rangiwahia School – and those I have met have some great stories to tell at least one of them involving Kelvin Squire in a kaftan! – so next time you have a glass in your hand please raise it to the memory of a great little school.