After formal consultation with parents, the board of trustees this week recommended to the Ministry of Education the 140-year-old decile 5 school be closed.
Principal Richard Aitken said Tomahawk School was the smallest in Dunedin, with a roll of 11 pupils - the lowest in more than three decades.
"As an entity, we don't have the financial wherewithal to keep the doors open next year. Roll-based funding is only effective when you've got more than 15 pupils."
The roll was expected to drop to nine next year, because two pupils were going to intermediate.
There was no guarantee yet all the remaining pupils would return to the school next year.
Mr Aitken had no idea when the school would be closed.
He expected the ministry's decision would be made in time for the school to close by the end of the first term next year, but said it would help families to resettle into new schools if the decision was made before the end of this year.
"I think it's a difficult time because the school is the only thing left in the community that everyone can be a part of.
We've got a really neat group of kids and families involved, and it's really sad to see that broken up.
"No-one likes to see a 140-year-old school come to an end."
The community was upset with the board's decision but it was "a decision the school has come to quite naturally over time", Mr Aitken said.
A ministry spokesman said a decision would not be made for several months, and he declined to comment on the school's future.
Tomahawk School is the second primary school in the Dunedin area to apply for voluntary closure this year.
Waldronville School made an official application to the ministry in September to close the school after learning its roll would drop to six next year.
A decade ago, the five-classroom decile 8 school had a roll of about 70 pupils.
