Lilly Binion was excited to start year 4 at Devenish Primary School, located in a rural community in northern Victoria, about 230 kilometres north of Melbourne, but her first day back to school was far from what she expected.
On arrival, she was met with Department of Education and Training representatives who said they would not supply a teacher and so there would be no class.
"[Lilly is] so disappointed," her mother Jenny Binion said.
"She doesn't understand why she can't go to school. The kids think that they've done something wrong and that's not acceptable. It's not right."
Ms Binion was aware that a motion had been put forward by the school council last year to close the school because of declining numbers but the department had not signed off on the closure or finalised its decision.
"There's no grey area. If the school is not closed then it's open. They need to supply a teacher for my daughter and for the other four children who are ready to start," she said.
Ms Binion said there was also no communication prior to arriving on that first day informing parents that there would be no teacher.
Unable to enrol
There were just two students enrolled last year when the department said it would consider permanently closing the school.
More than 430 people have signed a petition to keep the school open, which managed to recruit four more students for this year.
They also arrived in uniform on Monday, but the department will not recognise them as enrolled.
In a statement, a department spokesperson maintains "there are no teachers currently assigned as there is only one enrolment for this year".
"The school is working with that student to find them suitable enrolment at a nearby school," the spokesperson said.
School council member, Chris Gregory, whose daughter was hoping to start at the school this year, said the department was refusing to accept their paperwork.
"They had their enrolment forms on Monday, but [department officials] weren't interested in accepting them at all," he said.
"The thing that disappointed us was they were happy last year to run it for two students. We turn up with five this year and they just do not want to open it."
Ms Binion said it was a disgrace.
She was offered compensation to unenrol her daughter from the school and relocate her to a new one, but Ms Binion said she had no plans of doing that.
"I'm not interested in financial compensation; I want my daughter to go to a school that she loves," Ms Binion said.
"The second I unenrol her they will put a padlock on the gate because they see her as the only student," she said.
"That's not fair on Lilly or the other students.
"I'm not going to unenrol her; they'll have to kick her out."
The next closest school is a 60-kilometre round trip away from the town, which Ms Binion said was not feasible without moving to a new home.
She said it was now also impacting her ability to work as someone needed to be home to look after her daughter during the day if the school was not operating.
Benefits of small school
Lilly moved to the Devenish Primary School after the impacts of the pandemic started affecting her learning outcomes.
"She was going to a bigger school, but after COVID she fell drastically behind and we were just struggling to catch her up," Ms Binion said.
"She needed a smaller environment to get that more one-on-one help and just in the few weeks that she was there last term, she came ahead in leaps and bounds."
Ms Binion was concerned Lilly's education outcomes would continue to be impacted if she missed more school as a result of the department's actions.
She said it was not a matter of a shortage of teachers, having spoken to many in the region who would put their hand up for the job.
Ms Binion will continue to send her daughter to the school daily in the hope that a teacher is supplied.
