Dennis Russell, of Sandhills Road, Salcombe, writes:

I was a governor of a small – 60-plus pupils – village school for several years, so I hope my comments may be helpful.

It was a small village, only about a mile from a town with two large primary schools, 250 and 400 pupils.

Our problem was the familiar one, a village where property was bought mainly by retired people and so an apparently inevitably falling school roll.

Some research found that, on the whole, parents in the town thought that a smaller school might be better for primary children, particularly as ours was Church-aided and had a good image for discipline and behaviour.

We established that, because of the Church aid, our catchment area was not limited to the village, as had been thought. We could recruit any children, from anywhere.

We felt that competing for children was legitimate, because for us it seemed a matter of survival, and our school offered benefits that were valued. Our chairman, a local GP, was committed to seeing the school progress.

We set ourselves a target to raise the annual entry from five-eight pupils to 10-15.

With the support of the local newspaper's editor, we produced a small flow of 'good news' stories and pictures about the school. The incumbent head was due to retire, and the good PR attracted excellent candidates – another good story.

Within a year or so, there was a significant improvement in the school's performance, which increased its appeal to parents. After three years, we were attracting 10-12 new pupils per year and had persuaded a big builder to donate a Portacabin, which became an extra classroom.

There was a lot of enthusiastic support from parents, staff and the village generally, and the future for the school looks bright.