St Leonards School recently invited its community to celebrate the Ministry of Education-funded $345,927 refurbishment of its teaching space.
The two side-by-side classrooms, divided by a wall, had been transformed into one big classroom with a sliding door in case the classroom needed to be split into two again.
However, principal Sarah Thompson said the door was open most of the time and the pupils did a lot of learning together.
She said the pupils spent "mat time" together and then went to their tables to complete work at their various levels.
"It’s a nice seamless flow between working together and then towards independent learning."
Ministry data showed the school has 21 pupils, but Ms Thompson expected the roll to grow.
She said the school’s small size was attractive to some parents, who believed their children would be better off.
She said the school was situated in a suburb with few children.
The newly refurbished teaching space was "absolutely perfect" for the school’s size and approach to learning.
"We’re small and very family-like.
"We find that the children learn from each other a lot.
"The opportunity to explain their thinking and teach younger children is really powerful.
"It consolidates their own learning and understanding of a topic."
She said it was easy to cultivate opportunities to lead in that environment.
Ms Thompson said sometimes the children had "sibling-like conflicts" but it built resilience in their relationships and set them up to be successful academically and socially.
The refurbishment had been done during the summer holidays and the space was ready two weeks into term 1.
