The 128-year-old Catlins school officially closed yesterday, although it has had no fulltime pupils this year.
The school, northwest of Papatowai in the Catlins, opened in 1897 and at its height had a roll of more than 100 children, in the heyday of small farms and sawmilling.
It held a 125th anniversary in 2022, and the school board celebrated the school’s legacy last month before the closure.
The school has hosted just a handful of children in recent years and has been empty this term.
Ministry of Education documents show that at the start of last year Tahakopa School had two pupils — two brothers — who were already travelling to the Catlins Area School in Owaka, about 28km away, for one day a week.
The area had tried to attract children to the school over the past few years. Documents show it had the space to cater for 50 pupils, and teaching resources of 1.3FTE, with a teaching principal and a release teacher.
However, the Ministry of Education decided in September last year to close the school.
The school board did not agree with the closure.
At the farewell celebrations last month, principal Cherie Zoutenbier-Bisset said the school held the community together.
But she said you could not run a school without pupils and while there was the option of collecting pupils from outside the catchment area, the school decided not to do that. — APL
