For Penelope Smith, multitasking is a necessity.
Ms Smith is a teacher at Natone Primary School, in Tasmania's north-west.
It is one of Tasmania's smallest schools, with 26 students split into two classes.
She takes the grade three to six class.
But she is not your average classroom teacher. Ms Smith is also the school principal and music teacher.
"I really like the engagement with students and staff on a day-to-day basis and I also really love the fact that you prioritise the administration tasks that are really important to students learning," she said.
She said the benefits of a small school to a child's education were clear.
"As a classroom teacher you can spend more time giving individual support to individual children, specific to what their needs are," Ms Smith said.
"You can do that in a larger class but in a smaller class you have a bit more time to spend on that."
Natalie Brown, the director at the Peter Underwood Centre for Educational Attainment, agreed there were advantages to small schools.
"One of the biggest advantages of small schools is they are very close to their community, so parents tend to be much more involved," Professor Brown said.
"Positive engagement of parents in learning is something that is really powerful in education.
"That's really powerful and extends learning beyond the school gates."
Ten years ago, the future of Tasmania's smallest schools was in doubt when, in a bid to save money, the Labor-Green government slated the closure of 20 small schools — 16 of those primary schools.
It sparked the Save Our Schools campaign, led by local communities.
Collinsvale Primary School Association chair Malcolm O'May joined the 2011 protests.
"It was a time of a lot of uncertainty that's for sure. We had planned out our daughter's schooling the year before and all of a sudden we didn't know if it was going to be at this school or not," Mr O'May said.
He said a lot of parents in the community thought the same way.
"The school is sort of the hub of the community, so it was fairly important to a lot of people that it stayed open," he said.
Since 2011, school closures have occurred. Those decisions were made by the communities involved.
But 10 years on, some still believe the closure of small schools is a discussion that needs to be had.
Independent economist Saul Eslake said it remained hard to prove whether the high running costs of small schools impacted the educational outcomes of students right across the system.
"But it is unarguable that Tasmania spends more per government school student than any other state and despite that achieves poorer outcomes," Mr Eslake said.
"That isn't specifically because we have a higher than average number of small schools, but [because] small schools mean that a relatively bigger part of the education budget is absorbed by fixed costs such as the cost of a principal or providing ground staff that are spread over a smaller amount of students," he said.
Professor Brown said it was important not to underestimate the value of small towns in the fabric of society.
"Some of these communities are really important to Tasmania," she said. "Farming communities, other communities are contributing to Tasmania and to the economic prosperity of Tasmania."
'We're all equipped to protect our school'
Collinsvale Primary School student Rex McDonald is one of the beneficiaries of the Save Our Schools campaign. He attends the school with his little sister Audrey, who is in kindergarten.
The school has 52 students and employs three full-time teachers, plus one on a part-time basis. Another three specialist teachers work there one or two days a fortnight.
"We've got a really strong family connection [to the school] because my husband went there and so did his siblings, so it's really special."
Rex's teacher, Larissa Reason, is new to the school, but has worked in even smaller schools before.
Not many teachers would know how to use a fire pump, but she does.
"The teachers here, on our pupil-free days at the beginning of the year, all learned how to use the fire pump," she said.
She said while small schools had advantages, there were also challenges.
"You don't have other teachers on the same level to compare the curriculum or to compare your class with, which at times can be a little bit worrying," she said.
"Getting relief teachers is a challenge. If someone is sick it can be difficult to fill that body which is away, which can impact us at times."
Technology could help bridge divide
Professor Brown said another challenge small schools faced was a lack of specialised subjects and programs.
But the pandemic has given them confidence to experiment with technology — something that is already benefiting small schools.
"During COVID we actually found out that we're pretty good at using technology and coming up with innovative ways that we can collaborate and we can work with each other," Professor Brown said.
Ms Smith said technology had proven to be a powerful tool.
"We had a grade six student last year who worked with a teacher based in Hobart," she said.
"[That student] really flourished with that opportunity."
The NBN rollout is complete, but Ms Reason said gaining internet access could still be tricky in rural Tasmania.
