This school in Newfoundland has only 1 student. Here's what that means for everyone else

one-storey school with stairs — Only one student attends Swift Current Academy in rural Newfoundland, and it costs the province almost $450,000 to keep the school’s doors open. (Mark Cumby/CBC News)

A school in rural Newfoundland that has survived several closure attempts will remain open to one student, costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars and causing grief for parents in the community.

For the second school year in a row, one student is enrolled at Swift Current Academy, the only school in Swift Current, NL, an outer port of about 200 residents about a two-hour drive from St. John’s.

The school currently employs one teacher who also acts as principal, caretaker, secretary and bus driver.

Sixteen school-aged children are intended to attend the school, but most of them decided to jump ship last year and drive long distances in exchange for more classmates and extracurricular activities. Seven of them attend school in Clarenville, and eight attend school in Arnold’s Cove. Both communities are approximately 28 miles from Swift Current.

But those 15 students are not eligible for a bus route to those schools because they are technically destined for Swift Current Academy. Their parents are responsible for transporting their children to and from school every day, and some have free seats on buses with extra space.

But as long as the Swift Current Academy exists, they will not have their own transportation.

Nancy Barrington, mother of two children living in Swift Current, served as head of the Swift Current Academy School Board from 2016 to 2022. Her children now attend school in Clarenville.

With declining enrollment and dwindling opportunities, parents and students in the community came together last year to make a difficult decision.

“Last September was when everyone pretty much decided they were going somewhere else. It was at that time when there were no students enrolled,” Barrington said.

“One went back to enroll in the school and all the other kids went somewhere else.”

Woman with curly hair in a blue jacket — Nancy Barrington pulled her children out of Swift Current Academy last year to give them better opportunities, but it’s taking a toll on her family. (Mark Cumby/CBC Newa)

The move to a larger school is positive for her children. In Swift Current, “there are no sports teams, there is no music program, there are just no extracurricular activities,” she says.

Clarenville High School has 328 students and offers extracurricular activities such as volleyball, softball, choir and concert band.

“They’re involved in sports teams, they have more friends. There’s just this social aspect that has been a huge benefit for my kids,” she said.

However, the students’ success is not without consequences for their parents. “People are working. They have to find the time to get back and forth, and not everyone can carpool. It’s wear and tear on your vehicle,” Barrington said.

“It causes a lot of difficulties.”

LOOK | No classmates for the only student at this school in Swift Current:

Keeping this NL school open for one student costs almost $450,000 every year

This is not the first year that Swift Current Academy has had one student for the entire school year. Enrollment numbers are steadily declining, but the school remains open. The CBC’s Katherine Crummy looks at why it hasn’t been closed and what that means for other children in the area.

The province has been debating the closure of Swift Current Academy for several years. In 2012, the Eastern School District of Newfoundland and Labrador, now NLSchools, proposed closing the school and adding a bus route to take students to Clarenville.

There were 56 students enrolled at that time.

Five years later, the school board again said the school should be closed, suggesting that the 24 students enrolled at the time would instead be bused to Tricentia Academy in Arnold’s Cove.

A 2017 report calculated that this move would save the school system $440,000 per year.

“When the school was up for renewal and review and whether or not we were going to close the school, they said it was up to the parents to decide whether the school was going to close. There is not yet 100 percent permission to say that. it was closing. So now it’s up to those involved with the school,” Barrington said.

“Ultimately, it’s one person’s decision at this point whether it stays open or not.”

The Ministry of Education declined an interview with CBC.

In a statement, spokesperson Lynn Robinson said “projected and actual enrollment information is used to make decisions regarding school closures,” along with community consultation.

Robinson did not immediately answer when asked whether the department was considering closing the school.

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