Population boom at NZ’s smallest school
ON a brilliantly fine morning, Linton Country School’s two ‘‘koros’’ sit on a bench outside a classroom laughing and whispering to one another.
The eldest, Cruiz Strickett, turned the ripe old age of seven during the recent school holidays. His schoolmate, Liam Qiokata, won’t turn seven until January.
On Tuesday, the year-2 pupils at the tiny rural school 15km south of Palmerston North saw the roll increase by 60 per cent.
Not only did the pair find themselves with three new classmates, but the newcomers have completely overturned the school’s gender balance.
New principal Katy Marsh has been in the job for only six weeks. She said Hannah, 7, who’s in year 3, Izzy, 5, year 2, and Chloe, 5, year 1, had been on a number of school visits before their parents enrolled them in her care.
Having new schoolmates is ‘‘cool’’, Liam said and Marsh said the pair have been ‘‘perfect gentlemen’’ in showing the newcomers around the school.
‘‘Yesterday they were all playing together in the sandpit. It was great to watch.’’
At the beginning of the school year, Cruiz had been the only pupil at the 127-year-old school after its year-8 pupils graduated to high school. On the first day of school, he was joined by his year 4, 8-year-old cousin, Indica TaylorCollis, who has since left, due to matters unrelated to the school.
Despite the low roll and an electrical fire that destroyed the kitchen and damaged the hall last year, the board of trustees was adamant about keeping the school viable because of the number of families nearby with preschoolers.
Marsh is rapt about the facilities she has inherited and the support. ‘‘I’ve been humbled by the community I work in. It’s a well-resourced school with great playgrounds and plenty of space.’’
There has been a concerted community effort to keep the playground equipment maintained and the school pool in a swimmable condition.
‘‘Most school pools at this time of year are either empty or green. But having a school pool is the best learn-to-swim environment, and I ampassionate about kids learning how to swim properly. It’s so important,’’ Marsh said.
Marsh is also a qualified reading recovery teacher, and, from a rural background herself, wants to introduce animals as part of the teaching programme.
‘‘The community has agreed to support every pupil with a lamb or a calf for lamb and calf week next term. We’re in the process of building a hen house.’’
The next step is to get the kitchen back, hopefully by the end of term, and the hall restored by the end of the year. ‘‘I’m very positive about the future of the school. We can offer kids the rural traditions alongside a modern education, and we’re not far from the city.’’
Marsh’s office looks out over a paddock with two horses and a foal and she says she would like to introduce a programme called Equine Assisted Learning to the school, but says that will be a decision for the community and the board at a later date.
The concept, which has adherents in the US, involves pupils establishing respectful relationships with horses, with the principles of those relationships influencing other aspects of their lives.
Marsh, who grew up in the small Rangitikei township of Hunterville, on SH1 65km northwest of Palmerston North, began her teaching career in Glenfield, Auckland, before coming south to schools on the Kapiti Coast. She arrived at Linton after serving as deputy principal at Foxton Beach School.
‘‘The rural thing gets into your blood. I feel like I’ve come home, really.’’