Dhurringile Primary School under threat of closure

Dhurringile Primary School principal Lisa Wilson said the main barrier to the school's continuation was enrolment numbers.

There are currently just four students enrolled.

“We started this year with eight, but one was a family of four and moved with work, so you lose the kids,” Ms Wilson said.

“We find a lot of people bypass us because they don't realise the school's here, or because we don't have a bussing system, people miss it.”

While the Education Department used to have the jurisdiction to shut schools down, since the 1990s locally run schools are only closed by the communities when they feel they're no longer viable.

“We haven't got that,” Ms Wilson said.

“Our school community is still more than willing to support the school, but we've got to find the children to come here.”

Ms Wilson said changed farming lifestyles in the Goulburn Valley over the years was one of the main reasons Dhurringile had struggled for numbers.

“The farming community has had a downturn — people aren't coming back on the farms like they used to,” she said.

“And families don't have eight, nine, 10 or 12 kids anymore.”

But it could come down to luck in the end, too.

“Next year will be a low number of students in schools anyway,” Ms Wilson said.

“Murchison kinder only has eight students this year, Toolamba only has 16.”

The school has seen a lot of change across the years.

More than a century ago when Dhurringile Primary School first opened, 20 students would ride into class by pony.

“We still have the pony paddock, but it's been planted out,” Ms Wilson said.

“In the back of that, there's still two pieces of the original post-and-rail fence.”

Dhurringile Primary had always been a smaller school, and Ms Wilson understood it wasn't a model for everyone.

“We can't do after-school care because ... we don't have the numbers for it,” she said.

“We can't offer a bus service because the Education Department won't allow us to.

“We've got things against us that we can't do anything about.”

But it works both ways.

“All the people who want a small, intimate, more family-type atmosphere in the school, you don't necessarily get that in the big schools,” Ms Wilson said.

“I've spent most of my career in small schools ... it's the close-knit bond that you make with the children as a teacher.

“You start to be able to read them like your own kids.”

Ms Wilson encouraged people to enrol their children at Dhurringile Primary School, or at least inquire about the school with a virtual tour.

“Follow us on Facebook, have a look and see what we're doing,” she said.

“Toot as you drive past so we know you're supporting us.”

But until student numbers rise, the future remains uncertain.

“We can keep going with four ... but you've got to think of the kids, too,” Ms Wilson said.