Four elementary schools in the Municipality of the District of Clare on Nova Scotia's southwest shore will close in the next five years.

The province's francophone school board, Conseil Scolaire Acadien Provincial, voted to go ahead with the closures at a meeting Saturday morning.

The board will now focus on building a central elementary school to house the students from the four schools.

The schools set to close are:

École Joseph-Dugas in Church Point.

École Jean-Marie-Gay in Saulnierville.

École Stella-Maris in Meteghan.

École Saint-Albert in Salmon River.

The four schools were the only ones looked at as part of the school review process.

The board used several criteria to determine which schools should close, including student population, the condition of the buildings and student safety.

The plan is for École Saint-Albert and École Jean-Marie-Gay to shut down first. They will close July 31, 2018.

The Conseil Scolaire Acadien Provincial school board voted Saturday to close four schools in the Municipality of the District of Clare. (Stephanie Blanchet/Radio-Canada)

The students of École Saint-Albert will be transferred about 15 kilometres away to École Stella-Maris.

Children at École Jean-Marie-Gay will be sent to École Joseph-Dugas, which is about 12 kilometres away.

The remaining two schools will close on July 31, 2022, and then all of the children will go to the new elementary school beginning in September 2022.