In Nova Scotia, a tiny island schoolhouse keeps a storybook childhood alive

// custom header art window.tgam.meta.photo_desktop = "https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/tancook-headerV.jpg"; window.tgam.meta.photo_mobile = "https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/tancook-headerH.jpg"; // editable custom header parameters window.tgam.meta.headline_overlay_vertical_position_desktop = "top"; window.tgam.meta.headline_overlay_horizontal_position_desktop = "right"; window.tgam.meta.headline_overlay_vertical_position_mobile = "top"; window.tgam.meta.headline_overlay_gradient = true; window.tgam.meta.centre_headline = true; window.tgam.meta.large_headline = false; window.tgam.meta.label_text_colour = ""; window.tgam.meta.label_box_colour = "#a00f19"; window.tgam.meta.banner_overlay_gradient = false; window.tgam.meta.headline_overlay_gradient_opacity = "0.3"; // editable custom header display overrides window.tgam.meta.display_head = "School on the shore"; window.tgam.meta.display_deck = "At the one-room schoolhouse on Big Tancook Island, summer vacation hits different"; window.tgam.meta.label = "Underexposed"; window.tgam.meta.byline = "Photography and story by Darren Calabrese"; window.tgam.meta.byline2 = ""; window.tgam.meta.creditline = "The Globe and Mail"; // non-editable custom header parameters - PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH window.tgam.meta.headline_overlay = true; window.tgam.meta.two_column = false; window.tgam.meta.swap_column = false; window.tgam.meta.full_width = true; window.tgam.meta.narrow_width = false; window.tgam.meta.dark_background = true; window.tgam.meta.dark_background_colour = "#0a0a0a"; window.tgam.meta.sans_headline = false; window.tgam.meta.label_text_colour_overlay = "" ; window.tgam.meta.label_box_colour_overlay = "#a00f19"; window.tgam.meta.audio_bar = false; window.tgam.meta.banner = true; window.tgam.meta.banner_border = false; window.tgam.meta.banner_overlay_dark = false; window.tgam.meta.caption_background_colour = ""; window.tgam.meta.caption_text_colour = ""; window.tgam.meta.full_height = true; // gi lazy images window.lazySizesConfig = window.lazySizesConfig || {}; Object.assign(window.lazySizesConfig, { lazyClass: "gi-lazyimage", loadedClass: "gi-lazyimage--loaded", loadingClass: "gi-lazyimage--loading", preloadClass: "gi-lazyimage--preload", errorClass: "gi-lazyimage--error", autosizesClass: "gi-lazyimage--autosizes", expand: 1000 }); const gi_content = ` series: true [content] :skip ****** series box ****** :endskip [.slide] type: series [] :skip ****** video ****** :endskip [.slide] type: video video: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-video-drone.mp4 video-caption: fullscreen-mobile: true fullscreen-desktop: true mobile-aspect-ratio: 16-9 desktop-aspect-ratio: 16-9 caption: credit: audio: audio-label: true audio-description: interactive: false [.text] [.+paragraphs] On Big Tancook, there are no paved roads. No hospital. No grocery store or restaurants (other than a summer canteen). But there is a single, perfect one-room schoolhouse, elegantly perched on top of a hill. And today is the kind of warm spring day that signals that the school year is ticking down. [] [] [] :skip ****** SEQ B - diptych ****** :endskip [.slide] type: diptych mobile-aspect-ratio: 3-2 desktop-aspect-ratio: 3-2 [.diptych] photo-1-sm: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-004_sm.jpg photo-1-lg: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-004_lg.jpg caption-1: credit-1: audio-1: audio-1-label: audio-1-description: photo-2-sm: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-005_sm.jpg photo-2-lg: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-005_lg.jpg caption-2: credit-2: audio-2: audio-2-label: audio-2-description: [] [.text] [.+paragraphs] At recess, the entire student body – all five pupils – spills out the front door, running for the woods, respectfully pretending to not hear Mrs. Smith and Ms. Haley’s call for hats and sunscreen. Today, they’ll find a baby-blue robin’s egg and climb trees to spot fishermen bringing in traps on the final days of lobster season. “I see my dad’s boat!” squeals Paisley Zwicker, a sweet, outgoing eight-year-old in Grade 2. [] [] [] :skip ****** SEQ C - diptych ****** :endskip [.slide] type: diptych mobile-aspect-ratio: 3-2 desktop-aspect-ratio: 3-2 map: [.diptych] photo-1-sm: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-006_sm.jpg photo-1-lg: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-006_lg.jpg caption-1: credit-1: audio-1: audio-1-label: audio-1-description: photo-2-sm: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-007_sm.jpg photo-2-lg: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-007_lg.jpg caption-2: ‘We’ve watched all of them grow,’ Ellen Smith, the teaching principal at Big Tancook, says of the children in their care. ‘I remember holding some kids when they were babies on the ferry and then eventually having them as students.’ credit-2: audio-2: audio-2-label: audio-2-description: [] [.text] [.+paragraphs] Scenes similar to this – minus the lobster boats, mostly – have been playing out across the country over the past few weeks as kids restlessly await that final bell. But here, on Big Tancook Island, about 10 kilometres off the outer coast of Nova Scotia’s Mahone Bay, the end of the school year has a particular significance. [] [] [] :skip ****** SEQ D - photo ****** :endskip [.slide] type: photo photo-sm: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-003_sm.jpg photo-lg: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-003c_lg.jpg photo-xl: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-003c_xl.jpg fullscreen-mobile: false fullscreen-desktop: true mobile-aspect-ratio: 3-2 desktop-aspect-ratio: 16-9 caption: Lucas Cross, a pupil at Big Tancook Elementary, balances on the top of a breakwall where the dock for the new vehicle ferry is being built. credit: audio: audio-label: audio-description: [.text] [.+paragraphs] [] [] [] :skip ****** SEQ E - photo ****** :endskip [.slide] type: photo photo-sm: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-009_sm.jpg photo-lg: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-009_lg.jpg photo-xl: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-009_lg.jpg fullscreen-mobile: false fullscreen-desktop: false mobile-aspect-ratio: 3-2 desktop-aspect-ratio: 3-2 caption: These pupils from the early 1900s studied at the original school on Big Tancook, across the road from the current site. credit: audio: audio-label: audio-description: [.text] [.+paragraphs] Big Tancook, which has an area of about two square kilometres, used to be a thriving boat-building, farming and fishing community with two public schools in its heyday. But Big Tancook Elementary School still exists, despite dwindling student numbers. It has survived a number of regional school board reviews. Most recently, it narrowly avoided closing in 2016 when its only two students graduated to middle school. After this, the school’s population steadily grew, reaching a high-water mark of 17 kids enrolled in 2022. [] [] [] :skip ****** video ****** :endskip [.slide] type: video video: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-video-truck.mp4 video-caption: fullscreen-mobile: false fullscreen-desktop: true mobile-aspect-ratio: 16-9 desktop-aspect-ratio: 16-9 caption: credit: audio: audio-label: true audio-description: interactive: false [.text] [.+paragraphs] [] [] [] :skip ****** SEQ F - diptych ****** :endskip [.slide] type: diptych mobile-aspect-ratio: 3-2 desktop-aspect-ratio: 3-2 [.diptych] photo-1-sm: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-011_sm.jpg photo-1-lg: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-011_lg.jpg caption-1: After a field trip to a sister school on the mainland, Audrey Gray and Paisley Zwicker board the ferry back to Big Tancook from Chester, N.S. Such trips aim to connect the island children with friends they will join later in middle school. credit-1: audio-1: audio-1-label: audio-1-description: photo-2-sm: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-029_lg.jpg photo-2-lg: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-029_sm.jpg caption-2: Paisley Zwicker takes in the sea view from the ferry, which takes about 45 minutes to reach the mainland from Big Tancook. Locals are wondering whether a new vehicle ferry will entice more families, and more school-age children, to live on the island. credit-2: audio-2: audio-2-label: audio-2-description: [] [.text] [.+paragraphs] [] [] [] :skip ****** SEQ H - photo ****** :endskip [.slide] type: photo photo-sm: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-013-V_sm.jpg photo-lg: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-013_lg.jpg photo-xl: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-013_xl.jpg fullscreen-mobile: false fullscreen-desktop: false mobile-aspect-ratio: 2-3 desktop-aspect-ratio: 16-9 caption: credit: audio: audio-label: audio-description: [.text] [.+paragraphs] [] [] [] :skip ****** ad unit ****** :endskip [.slide] type: ad [] :skip ****** SEQ I - photo ****** :endskip [.slide] type: photo photo-sm: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-014_sm.jpg photo-lg: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-014_lg.jpg photo-xl: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-014_lg.jpg fullscreen-mobile: false fullscreen-desktop: false mobile-aspect-ratio: 3-2 desktop-aspect-ratio: 3-2 caption: credit: audio: audio-label: audio-description: [.text] [.+paragraphs] One woman contributing to the enrolment boom was Kathleen Gray, who came to Big Tancook for a knitting workshop in 2012 and left her corporate life in Calgary to move to the island with her family four years later. “I did my civic duty to save the school and had Audrey,” Gray said half-jokingly about her nine-year-old daughter, who is currently in Grade 3 in one of Canada’s last functioning one-room schoolhouses. [] [] [] :skip ****** SEQ K - diptych ****** :endskip [.slide] type: diptych mobile-aspect-ratio: 3-2 desktop-aspect-ratio: 3-2 [.diptych] photo-1-sm: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-016_sm.jpg photo-1-lg: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-016_lg.jpg caption-1: credit-1: audio-1: audio-1-label: audio-1-description: photo-2-sm: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-017_sm.jpg photo-2-lg: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-017_lg.jpg caption-2: credit-2: audio-2: audio-2-label: audio-2-description: [] [.text] [.+paragraphs] For Gray and her husband Avron, who tend to goats, chickens and ducks on a one-acre plot overlooking the island’s Southeast Cove, the move afforded them freedom and gave their daughter a chance at a storybook childhood. “We all live together here and we have this great way of sharing our space and time. And [the kids] are like each other’s siblings. They’ve got each other’s backs,” says Gray. [] [] [] :skip ****** video ****** :endskip [.slide] type: video video: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-video-clothesline.mp4 video-caption: fullscreen-mobile: false fullscreen-desktop: false mobile-aspect-ratio: 3-2 desktop-aspect-ratio: 3-2 caption: credit: audio: audio-label: true audio-description: interactive: false [.text] [.+paragraphs] [] [] [] :skip ****** SEQ L - photo ****** :endskip [.slide] type: photo photo-sm: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-018-V_sm.jpg photo-lg: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-018_lg.jpg photo-xl: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-018_lg.jpg fullscreen-mobile: false fullscreen-desktop: false mobile-aspect-ratio: 1-1 desktop-aspect-ratio: 3-2 caption: credit: audio: audio-label: audio-description: [.text] [.+paragraphs] Lucas Cross, a buoyantly adventurous 10-year-old, is one of the kids who has Audrey’s back. He admits to growing frustrated teaching Audrey to ride a two-wheeler, but encourages her at every chance, in between playing in a dory and checking for crabs on the shoreline. [] [] [] :skip ****** SEQ M - photo ****** :endskip [.slide] type: photo photo-sm: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-019_sm.jpg photo-lg: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-019_lg.jpg photo-xl: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-019_xl.jpg fullscreen-mobile: false fullscreen-desktop: true mobile-aspect-ratio: 3-2 desktop-aspect-ratio: 16-9 caption: credit: audio: audio-label: audio-description: [.text] [.+paragraphs] [] [] [] :skip ****** SEQ N - diptych ****** :endskip [.slide] type: diptych mobile-aspect-ratio: 3-2 desktop-aspect-ratio: 3-2 [.diptych] photo-1-sm: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-020_sm.jpg photo-1-lg: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-020_lg.jpg caption-1: credit-1: audio-1: audio-1-label: audio-1-description: photo-2-sm: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-021_sm.jpg photo-2-lg: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-021_lg.jpg caption-2: credit-2: audio-2: audio-2-label: audio-2-description: [] [.text] [.+paragraphs] His mother, Katherine Cross, is among Tancook Elementary’s fiercest advocates, who credits the school with allowing her family to stay on the island where her husband Ricky was born and grew up. As she talks at home, kids can be heard running from her mother-in-law’s garden across the pot-holed dirt road that would make the nastiest rural asphalt road blush. “These kids are being raised by every single person on this island. That’s all so rare and beautiful,” says Cross. [] [] [] :skip ****** SEQ O - photo ****** :endskip [.slide] type: photo photo-sm: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-022-V_sm.jpg photo-lg: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-022_lg.jpg photo-xl: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-022_lg.jpg fullscreen-mobile: false fullscreen-desktop: false mobile-aspect-ratio: 2-3 desktop-aspect-ratio: 3-2 caption: credit: audio: audio-label: audio-description: [.text] [.+paragraphs] Although the school is set with students for the next few years, there are currently no children scheduled for 2029 enrolment. Without any new families arriving, the community fears the beloved schoolhouse will once again be up for review. “We’re just so mindful of the fact that we will be forever changed if children aren’t growing up here,” Cross acknowledges. “If we don’t have young people here … it’s like the clock starts ticking on our community.” [] [] [] :skip ****** SEQ P - diptych ****** :endskip [.slide] type: diptych mobile-aspect-ratio: 3-2 desktop-aspect-ratio: 3-2 [.diptych] photo-1-sm: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-024_sm.jpg photo-1-lg: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-024_lg.jpg caption-1: Justin Cross and his wife, Katrina Swift, one of three expecting mothers on the island, carry groceries home from a weekly delivery from the mainland. credit-1: audio-1: audio-1-label: audio-1-description: photo-2-sm: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-008_sm.jpg photo-2-lg: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-008c_lg.jpg caption-2: Lucas Cross’s father, Ricky, baits lobster traps at the wharf. credit-2: audio-2: audio-2-label: audio-2-description: [] [.text] [.+paragraphs] There is cautious optimism that a coming vehicle-ferry will further entice new families to settle on the island, and three expectant moms will add to the school’s future primary class eventually. But, as Rosa Cross, one of the island’s matriarchs, ruminates from the wharf while waiting for the ferry that will deliver the weekly grocery delivery, “I just hope the school survives for those new babies.” [] [] [] :skip ****** ad unit ****** :endskip [.slide] type: ad [] :skip ****** SEQ Q - photo ****** :endskip [.slide] type: photo photo-sm: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-028_sm.jpg photo-lg: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-028_lg.jpg photo-xl: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-028_xl.jpg fullscreen-mobile: false fullscreen-desktop: true mobile-aspect-ratio: 3-2 desktop-aspect-ratio: 16-9 caption: credit: audio: audio-label: audio-description: [.text] [.+paragraphs] The window in Katherine Cross’s kitchen has a stunning but sobering view of East Ironbound Island’s now-shuttered community outside the window. “We have to get the word out for what we have here,” she reflects. “If we don’t start writing our own story, it will be written for us by people who don’t know what they’re writing off. It feels like a really important moment.” [] [] [] :skip ****** SEQ R - photo ****** :endskip [.slide] type: photo photo-sm: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-025-V_sm.jpg photo-lg: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-025_lg.jpg photo-xl: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-025_xl.jpg fullscreen-mobile: false fullscreen-desktop: true mobile-aspect-ratio: 2-3 desktop-aspect-ratio: 16-9 caption: credit: audio: audio-label: audio-description: [.text] [.+paragraphs] [] [] [] :skip ****** SEQ S - photo ****** :endskip [.slide] type: photo photo-sm: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-026-V_sm.jpg photo-lg: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-026c_lg.jpg photo-xl: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-026c_lg.jpg fullscreen-mobile: false fullscreen-desktop: false mobile-aspect-ratio: 1-1 desktop-aspect-ratio: 16-9 caption: credit: audio: audio-label: audio-description: [.text] [.+paragraphs] [] [] [] :skip ****** photographer bio ****** :endskip [.slide] type: bio label: About the photographer photo: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/files/interactive/canada/features/photo-popup/stories/ns-schoolhouse/NS-DCALABRESE-BIO.jpg photo-credit: Illustrated portrait by Lucas Cross, Grade 4 bio: Darren Calabrese is a dad, husband and Maritimer. Raised on a 400-acre woodlot in New Brunswick by a schoolteacher and a fish farmer, he grew up surrounded by family stories. Darren’s best-selling photo memoir Leaving Good Things Behind is available wherever books are sold (with a few copies now on Big Tancook Island)! [] :skip ****** credits ****** :endskip [.slide] type: credits [.+credits] Photography and story by Darren Calabrese Editing by Lisan Jutras Photo editing by Theresa Suzuki Video editing by Deborah Baic Digital presentation by Evan Annett Visuals editing by Solana Cain and Liz Sullivan Interactive design and development by Christopher Manza [] [] [] `; !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;r