“For me, it’s a little piece of paradise.” Single class, Davignac primary school is the school for happy children

Threatened with disappearance four years ago, the Davignac primary school was able to be maintained thanks to the determination of parents and the town hall. A unique class where children help each other and go dancing in the forest, a school that looks like paradise.

His yellow boots on his feet, his schoolbag on his back, Enaël rushes out of his house to climb into the minibus that passes in front to take him to school. He definitely wouldn't want to miss it: “It's not like going there in the car with the parents, here we are with the friends, we can laugh and do things”, the boy says.

“And we are with Simon, he's an Englishman Who takes the bus, so I know how to speak English a little”, adds Chloé who is already installed.

Zoé, Chloé, Enaël, Elouan, there are eleven students in total coming to school in the Corrèze village of Davignac, which has 230 inhabitants. Eleven children who live in Davignac or around ten kilometers nearby, on the Millevaches plateau.

“We are all in the same school with only one teacher, and since there aren't many of us, it's rather facile”, tells us Elouan, in CM1.

“There are lots of different levels, so the teacher has more work, but the older ones take care of the little ones and I think that’s great,” assures Chloé, in CM2.

The school day begins with a ritual: “Silence, on lit !”

Then Nathalie, the teacher, unfolds the program for the day: “mathematical work plan, recess, French work plan“.

“Did you forget the dictation? Enaël interrupts. Yeah ! No dictation!”

In math as in French, each student has their work plan, their roadmap to complete for the week, at their own pace.

To be able to convey to everyone the expectations of National Education, Nathalie has developed a pedagogy which promotes autonomy and cooperation. Everyone can help according to their skills. “I love helping CP Llaya, says Chloe. Is read to him stories and I find it amusing. Sometimes I make him read a few words like that, she learns a little.”

“If I didn't understand my exercise, I can ask Chloé, or Tyméa, or Baptiste, or Elouan, explains Zoé, in CM1. SI really are stuck, that can help you move forward faster.”

Today, Enaël doesn't need help, no one has asked him either, so he lets his big, curious CE1 eyes wander over the work of the older ones. : “It's cool because when you don't have nothing a bit to do, we look at what the older ones do like that afterwards it's easier for the following year.”

“Plus, we do cool things, sometimes we dance in the forest, it’s so good” reports Elouan, whose smile leaves no doubt about his joy at being there.

And Nathalie Persyn, the teacher, adds a new touch to this idyllic picture: “The site is superb, we are close to the forest, we have a multipurpose room with incredible acoustics, we have a theater stage, we have a parquet floor for dancing. For me, it's a little corner of paradise.”

“Here, it’s like a family, we have a lot of bond together,” Chloe continues.

“It’s an entity, it’s more life”, then concludes the mistress.

In this tiny school lost in the Corrèze countryside, learning escapes from the notebooks, is shared and builds confidence. A paradise that everyone hopes for without end.