A childless world changes everything

Smannell and Enham Church of England Primary School looks more like a chapel than a place of learning. On this fine morning, the Victorian-era building is quiet as I stare at its pebble-dashed walls and unobtrusive green fencing. Last year, Hampshire County Council decided that the place should be closed for want of pupils (24 at the last count). Parents were left angry, confused and anxious, says Andy Fitchett, a local Methodist minister, just as he was when his son’s school in Hatherden, a village just 10 minutes’ drive away, closed in 2022. Few suspected it would come to this. Yet in Hampshire alone, the population of under-15s has shrunk by 2%, leading to the closure of two other primary schools and half-a-dozen mergers. Nor is Jane Austen country alone. In the past two years, 40 state