Not only has Philippa McLachlan taken on the role of principal at Waldronville School this year, she has also taken up the fight to save the school from closing because of declining school rolls on the Brighton coast.
Mrs McLachlan said there could be as many as 150 children living in Waldronville, but only 21 were pupils at the school.
She said there was a cul-de-sac in Waldronville with eight houses full of children, all going to different schools.
‘‘I was appointed to the principal's position just before Christmas with the knowledge the school's roll was declining. I took the job with the intention of keeping it open.''
Mrs McLachlan said she hoped to work within the community and ‘‘get the school alive again''.
‘‘I think the key will be to get an after-school programme running. I had a young mum here yesterday who was keen to send her son to school here. She wanted to know if there was any after-school care here because both her and her husband work until 5pm.''
She believed because the school did not provide the service, many parents were taking their kids to schools that did offer the service.
Two of the school's four classrooms are used for teaching, one is used as a hall and Mrs McLachlan hoped to use the fourth for an after-school programme.
‘‘The board of trustees' vision is to keep the school going. But they are constantly looking at the situation and reassessing its future. We're working hard to get pupils to come to the school.
‘‘It's a well resourced and beautiful place. Children are lucky to live here.''
Dunedin city councillor Colin Weatherall said school rolls along the Brighton coast had been declining for a decade and had already prompted Brighton and Ocean View Schools to merge.
The decision was made by the Brighton and Ocean View schools boards he said. Ministry figures show Brighton School's rol had dropped from 127 pupils to 48 in the past 10 years.
In the corresponding period, Ocean View's roll had dropped from 50 pupils to 29. Its roll had been as high as 72 pupils.
Cr Weatherall said the school roll decline on the Brighton coast was not because of fewer children in the area. Rather transportability of children had become much higher than it used to be.
‘‘Parents are taking kids to school on the way to work, and bus services are picking kids up and taking them into town schools.
‘‘Some parents are choosing to take kids into town because they perceive the education there to be better.''
Cr Weatherall was keen to see the school remain because there were plenty of children in the Waldronville area.
‘‘It's busier than it's ever been,'' he said.
