Falling numbers of students threaten the existence of more and more schools in rural areas. The result is school closures, which in turn makes village life increasingly unattractive to young families. It’s a vicious circle that some small towns are trying to break with great commitment and innovative ideas. One example is the Stapelholm school, where the principal is responsible for three different locations. She is committed to avoiding school closures, but that means the form needs to change. In Bordelum, the heads of the school and kindergarten worked with the parents to head off closure, and a multi-generational “Bordelumhus” is planned for the entire community. And in the Klixbüll primary school, which has already been turned into the new village community centre, the number of students has doubled to 120 in the last ten years, bucking the trend.