Class half empty or half full?

Rural schools finding merit in low rolls

Many Manawatu¯ schools are at least half empty as population changes shift families away from rural townships

Across New Zealand, more than 330 schools were using less than half of their classroom space in March this year, Ministry of Education data shows.

Of the ministry’s 10 areas across the country, the Manawatu¯ /Whanganui/taranaki area had the most schools at least half empty, at 45, with some at as low as 10 per cent capacity.

The next highest areas were Otago/southland and Auckland.

Generally, these schools are either rural, isolated or built at a time when there was a larger regional schooling population to service, ministry deputy secretary Katrina Casey said.

Traditionally, rural primary schools are built with two classrooms, to divide junior and senior classes.

‘‘Because of this, and the fact rural schools tend to have small rolls, their utilisation rates are often low.

‘‘In some instances... if we were to close or merge a school, travel times would be greatly increased, making education less accessible.’’

Bunnythorpe School principal Margie Sutherland has previously spoken of the difficulty overcoming population decline.

The rural school opened in 1885. Half the school sits empty and it has just lost one of its teachers because pupil numbers fell below a ministry funding cap.

The township has few families with school-aged children, so the school has begun a promotion campaign to recruit families from Palmerston North, with funding from the council.

Possible measures the ministry can take if a school’s roll falls too low, with no projections to grow, include removing buildings, or merging or closing schools.

However, the ministry also considered wider community use of buildings and ‘‘the best provision for learning overall,’’ Casey said.

Awahou School, a rural primary school north of Ashhurst, has 45 children enrolled, but has capacity for 80.

However, principal Matt Schmidt said full capacity was not the ideal.

The roll was growing and should continue to do so.

‘‘With 45 we’ve got lots of room for more kids ... but in the 60s would be ideal for staffing ratios and to maintain that rural character ... I don’t want us bursting at the seams.’’

All schools have fluctuations from population changes, but the impact was magnified in smaller schools, where five pupils coming or going in one year could be a significant chunk of the roll.

Larger population trends have also had a significant effect.

The rural population was getting older and farms had become bigger, with fewer workers, therefore fewer families, Schmidt said.

Small rolls did not mean disadvantaged children, as traditionally rural and small schools banded together to provide resources.

‘‘We have a cluster of seven schools and we do a lot of activities together like cross country, principals’ meetings, teachers can go and observe other teachers and our boys that want to play soccer are in a team.’’

Sanson School was at 31 per cent capacity, with 38 pupils in March. Principal Jude O’keefe said smaller schools were especially impacted by trends and perceptions.

‘‘When a roll is smaller than it used to be, parents are often worry their child won’t have enough buddies, so they enrol them in a bigger school which, of course, compounds the problem.’’

However, the advantages of a smaller roll outweighed the disadvantages, she believed.

‘‘The kids have a better teacher to student ratio ... kids are thrust into leadership opportunities they may not have had in a larger school.’’