After formal consultation with parents in the community, the board of trustees this week recommended to the ministry the 50-year-old school be closed.
In 1999, the five-classroom decile 8 school had about 70 pupils.
But during the past decade, numbers had fallen and the roll this year had fallen to less than 20 pupils.
Board of trustees chairman Keith Brandish said roll projections had shown the school's roll would be as low as six pupils next year.
A large percentage of the roll was made up of senior pupils who would leave the school next year for intermediate schools, he said.
"The board of trustees met parents in the community last week and shared its concerns about the school's continued viability.
"After a subdued debate, a motion was presented that read: Do you support the board of trustees' recommendation to the Minister of Education that Waldronville School be closed?"The parents voted unanimously - but regretfully - for closure."
Mr Brandish said ministry data showed 60 to 70 school-age children lived in the Waldronville School zone.
During the past two years, the board had worked hard to attract many of those pupils to the school, but without success.
"I'm very disappointed that this is the end result. I had hoped the roll would rise again - I truly did," Mr Brandish said.
"But the data shows the roll will continue to decline. A school closing - it's a pretty sad and serious event."
Ease of travel was a major contributor to the roll decline, he said.
"Parents have decided to take their children to schools nearer their work places in Dunedin. That seems to be today's trend. Arguably, you can see some sense in that."
Mr Brandish said the board decided to make the recommendation to close now, rather than wait until the middle of next year, because the school would end up in a position where it could "fall apart".
For the sake of the remaining pupils, he hoped the school would be closed as early as the end of this year so they could organise to attend another school nearby.
However, it might take longer for the ministry to make the decision and he believed it would likely be closed at the end of the first term next year.
A ministry spokeswoman confirmed the recommendation to close had been received, but it was too early to comment on when, or if, this would happen.
