Tiny school gives up battle

By ANGELA GREGORY

DONNELLYS CROSSING - A small Northland school with only seven pupils has given up its long fight to stay open.

Just one family are now keeping Donnellys Crossing School operating and the seven stepbrothers and stepsisters do not even live in the area.

The children make a round trip of nearly 100km a day to attend the primary school, which is 46km northwest of Dargaville, just south of the Waipoua Forest.

School-aged pupils who live locally are driven 8km south each morning to attend the larger Aranga School.

As a result, the Donnellys Crossing board of trustees has called for the school to close by the end of the year. Acting chairwoman Kathleen Taylor said there was little choice as the community had "given up the fight" to keep alive what had been its only focal point for 77 years.

The board had unanimously but reluctantly written to the Ministry of Education asking it to close the two-classroom school.

Five years ago the school made headlines because of the community's determination to keep it open after the ministry had suggested closure.

The Donnellys Crossing fight gained national prominence when pupils faxed emotive letters to news media throughout the country and recorded a protest song for radio.

The high-profile campaign resulted in the then Education Minister, Lockwood Smith, granting a reprieve. Kathleen Taylor said there had since been a split in the community that was "not helping things."

Parents also wanted their children to enjoy the wider social interaction provided by the larger Aranga School as "the children tend to live in each other's pockets and need outside contact."

Kathleen Taylor said Donnellys Crossing School had opened at the start of the year with no children until the family from Parore, 5km north of Dargaville, decided to attend.

One of the children was struggling with reading and her parents felt she could benefit from one-to-one tuition at the sole-teacher school.

Kathleen Taylor said the family were pleased with the results and wanted the school to stay open.

However, they were struggling with the substantial travelling involved.

She said it would be a shame to close the "lovely school in a beautiful setting." Principal Rex Maitland said the school was well-resourced and he regretted it had to close.

"It's quite sad, but the board has to be realistic."

The ministry's manager of national operations, Ray Webb, said it had alerted the school board in February to the possibility of closure but had not explained its reasons.

The school's last two Education Review Office reports were critical of the curriculum delivery and teaching.

Mr Webb said schools had closed voluntarily before - Parakao School, west of Whangarei, at the end of last year, for example.

Schools could also remain open without pupils until they were formally closed, such as Oruawharo School, 19km west of Wellsford, the "school with no children" that featured in last week's Herald.