Pukehina School principal Roger Reid is going into battle to at least double his school roll of 10 pupils.
If he doesn't succeed, there are fears the school may close.
Mr Reid met with Ministry of Education staff yesterday afternoon to discuss a strategy to expand the roll.
Pukehina sat between two larger schools - Otamarakau with 70 pupils and Pongakawa with up to 300 on its roll - and suffered because it lacked a community of residents, he said.
He had been at Pukehina School for 10 years, with the roll nearer 70 when he started.
"We were dealt a blow a few years ago when we challenged our decile rating and it shot from 3 to 5. The outcome of our protest was that we were given a Decile 1 rating.
"That was fine by me," he said. "Because Decile 1 schools get $960 per child but parents calling in to enrol a child often walk out when they hear that (it is a Decile 1 school).
"In addition, the cost and supply of rental houses moved to beyond our parents," Mr Reid said.
Ideas to win back pupils included buying a bus to pick up children living close by. He said 170 youngsters lived at Pukehina Beach and they all travelled by bus to schools in Te Puke and Tauranga.
Mr Reid, who lives in Papamoa, picks up two children on his way to school each day. "Their family lived in this area but moved because of renting costs."
The school was among the first to have computers in the classroom and the children certainly knew their way around technology, as they showed during a visit.
Mr Reid saw an advantage for children being in a small class. "They get more individual attention here than they would in a class of 35 pupils, " he said.
"There are no issues of bullying here because the children all get along like one big family. I have heard of children who are being home schooled because of bullying issues. Their parents should consider bringing them here."
The school has an Educare pre-school unit operating on its grounds. It is attended by an average of 22 children a day. It was designed as a feeder into the new entrants class at Pukehina School but it didn't work that way.
"Many children have brothers and sisters at other schools and they will follow them there," said Educare principal Linnie Jones.
Mr Reid was determined to seek sponsorship for a new bus or van. "If we could gather another 10 children, that'd be ideal," he said.
The Ministry of Education's deputy secretary Sector Enablement and Support, Katrina Casey, said: "We have not had a discussion with Pukehina School Board of Trustees about closing the school.
"We have been working with the boards of trustees of schools east of Te Puke for some time now. In 2011 we funded Otamarakau and Pukehina boards of trustees to consult their communities about a possible merger, which would have seen Pukehina School close. For a range of reasons the merger did not go ahead."
"Recently we have been in discussions with Pukehina Board of Trustees about the declining roll and the impact this has on the financial position of the school.
"We will continue to meet with the Pukehina board to discuss options and develop plans for reducing risks to student achievement as a result of the reduced roll and funding concerns."
Mr Hall told the Bay of Plenty Times after yesterday's meeting that the Ministry was satisfied with the list of strategies to grow the school roll. He said the school was then asked for its timeline to implement the strategies, meaning the pressure was on to make the changes.
The school will regularly update the Ministry for the rest of this year until officials could see that what the school was doing was making a difference.
Pukehina School pupils were asked what they liked about their school.
"I like the environment and the kids, with all the different places to play. We have KidsCan on Fridays and Swiss on Wednesdays."
"I don't like big schools and I've been to heaps of them. We learn something new every day."
"The school has plenty of space to live in. I liek the kids and playing on computers, especially Photoshopping on Friday."
"I like playing outside."
"Playing with the other kids. Maths and building huts in the field."
"I like playing in the park, climbing trees and reading."
