One door closes, another opens....

Today I sit at my keyboard feeling very sad; it's not the drizzle and the grey sky causing this, it's a meeting I had this week with some lovely people which has effected my normally bubbly, smily mood.

I was invited into Sparkwell All Saints Primary School to meet the staff and children. I was shown around a beautiful school with amazing resources in a picturesque setting on the edge of the moor.

The students were delightful, well-behaved, polite and very switched on to the outside world, asking intelligent and sensible questions about my experiences and the way of life in The Gambia.

The working atmosphere was calm, orderly and productive and the children were happily working away at their tasks.

The quality of work on display and the organisation of the school was impressive and I have to say I'm known for not being easily impressed!!

So, how come after such a wonderful visit I feel so dismal? This wonderful village school is closing at the end of term due to falling numbers.

What an immense pity and what a shame. It reminds me of the small corner shops being forced out of business by the huge supermarkets, because today that is what schools in the UK are, businesses.

What a pity that good educational practice and fantastic facilities are simply being chucked out. I would like to thank Acting Head Jill Watts and her team and the lovely pupils of Sparkwell Primary school for inviting me to see something amazing before I return to The Gambia in a couple of weeks time.

I am sorry that your school is closing and I do not think that it is right that it should be doing so. Thank you for the lovely ideas and generous donations you have given for the schools in The Gambia.

At least some good will come from this and I thank you all for that.

Barnaby Bear will be happy in his special bed in his mud hut and will provide a lot of joy and interest to the pupils at The Orchard School, Madiana, which will be his new school.

He will learn Mandinka and eat lots of bananas and he'll tell all the children there about the beautiful Devon school he was once in.

If the Gambian children saw Sparkwell Primary School, they would definitely not understand how it could possibly close, but then again, life in The Gambia is so much more simple than here.
Slowly my smile has returned as I shall be doing very soon.