But the latest closure at the end of last term – the third since it was founded in 1874 – is expected to be its last.

In 1998, the school boasted 34 students, but its population had declined to just six when the difficult decision was finally made.

With projections indicating a best-case scenario of just eight students in 2020, the school council had little choice but to reluctantly shut it down.

It is undoubtedly a bitter, but perhaps not entirely unexpected, blow for both students past and present of the struggling school.

Primary schools tend to be regarded with great affection by those who once walked their corridors.

The years spent in primary school are generally free from the stresses of exams and bullying and peer group pressure that can cloud experiences at higher education facilities.

Students often look upon their primary school teachers as parental-type figures even decades after they exit the gates for the final time.

Certainly in Drummartin’s case, for many years the school was the epicentre of community life.

It regularly hosted community-building events and offered its surrounding residents access to important services such as computers, internet, printing and photocopying.

Because of its small numbers, students were exposed to the kind of intimate, personalised tuition that those in larger schools could only envy.

But the harsh reality is that any school – no matter how highly it is regarded in the community – needs a critical mass of students to survive.

Sadly, Drummartin Primary School simply did not have the student numbers required to justify its existence.

As a consequence, it now joins a growing list of rural and remote schools to close.

It is an unfortunate trend afflicting many small schools across the country as lifestyle and economic imperatives increasingly force families to move to larger centres.

Let us hope these quaint, character-filled schools that have served its students so well are not entirely consigned to the annuls of history.

- Ross Tyson, deputy editor