If you were to make a list of what makes an English village you’d have three public places at its heart. The church, the pub and the primary school would feature at the top of everyone’s list. I know that in many villages, this trinity has been eroded – our pubs are closing down, churches are deconsecrated and primary schools disappear all the time, breaking this bond.

The village in which the school stands that has been my workplace for more than the last three months is one where this tradition has been maintained and I am so glad that this is so. Strangely (or not depending on how well you know me) the first one of the three that I became acquainted with was the pub. It’s a beautiful old pub that features in the Good Pub Guide and I visited it, along with DM, Colin, Rosie and Archie - do follow this link - it is such a wonderful photo of "the old team" that I had a stomach lurch when I found it to link to it. In fact, I’d been in the pub twice before ever becoming involved with the other two parts of the trio. I did not, for a moment think on that day, almost exactly 11 years ago, that I'd be teaching in the school opposite or to be honest that I'd be living in Cornwall and teaching anywhere...

The school – well what can I say. I LOVE this place and will think of it always as a super special place in my life. It’s been such hard work but it’s also been so rewarding and enlightening for me. I’ve discovered that no matter how brutal the teacher training is, I CAN be a teacher. I’ve been allowed the freedom to “manage” the class much more than I anticipated would happen and have relished the opportunity. I’m deeply sad to say that on Friday I’ll walk out of its door for the last time ever and on Monday, their life will return to “normal” – in other words the life they had before I arrived. It will be as though I’d never been there. Within days, they’ll have forgotten I ever existed. It truly breaks my heart to acknowledge that brutal but true fact. I wince when I tell the bald and simple truth that I have taught my last lesson here and there is no certainty that I will ever teach a lesson anywhere again - no job, no prospect of a job...

The third part of the trinity has crept up on me. There is no doubt that I love and respect church buildings but I am a cynical non-believer in anything other than biology and science. I am utterly certain that there is nothing more than the cells that make up our bodies and that when we die, those cells get broken down and reused by bacteria or some other form of life as building blocks for new life. That’s it. Finito. So, for me to say that I have spent a lot of time in the church over the last few weeks and now see its role as a lot more important in the village than simply a beautiful building that attracts a few tourists to the village is quite a big thing.

It is a splendid building, dating back to Tudor times and beyond. The first church on the site was built in the 1200s. I’m sure over the years its role has changed and evolved but for now I’m completely happy to accept that its role in the life of the village is so much greater than a place of worship. The church authorities have been very forward thinking and they took the decision to make the church a public space so they took out the pews and replaced them with moveable chairs that allow a great degree of flexibility in terms of usage of the space. The school uses the church as a PE hall and today it has been the venue for our school play, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Our children have been rehearsing there for the last fortnight and tonight the church was filled with every villager, every child’s parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings and friends and our small group of children have entertained them all with verve and panache. It has been magical on every level and the atmosphere was enhanced by the amazing building in which the event took place.

I now, for the first time in my life, GET it. I see how these three institutions that are so different can co-exist and support each other to provide and nurture the heart of village life. I’m convinced.