A popular school, Learning Express, was started when a mother broke down and begged a teacher to teach her daughter.

?The daughter of a former student of mine has spina bifida and needed a smaller learning environment for her,? teaching head Judy Smith said. ?Her mother promised to run my nursery if I would teach her little one. That is how the school started.?

Now Learning Express has found a home in two rooms at the Salvation Army Citadel in Hamilton across from Dellwood School. Mrs. Smith also runs Learning Express Nursery and Pre-school in Shelly Bay.

The school is meeting the needs of children with gusto.

Mrs. Smith and two other teachers at Learning Express have created a school with intimate surroundings using a multi-sensory approach where 30 children, aged seven to 16, can thrive.

Mrs. Smith?s daughter, Gina Camara, and Brice Pursell are the other teachers.

One room is cosy and adorned with the students? colourful artwork. Another is an all-purpose one used for yoga, drama, assessments, occupational therapy, speech therapy and tutoring.

?The yoga helps the children to relax and de-stress,? Mrs. Smith said.

Twelve students are on a waiting list and the school has doubled in size since September ? creating a challenge for the school until the Salvation Army made a move from Shelly Bay to Hamilton possible.

Students wear uniforms and are expected to complete regular course work.

?Right now they are doing a lot of projects. They are designing ?Mars Rovers?, ?Space Labs? and mystery novels to name a few,? Mrs. Smith said.

The learning groups are determined by what level the students are at.

?The children also participate in community service, going downstairs to help feed the senior citizens lunch. ?They love it and discuss whose turn it is each time,? said Mrs. Smith.

They also participate in job shadowing, visiting different offices while learning about the day-to-day operations of the enterprise.

?They have visited the Bermuda Library, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Bermuda Florist, Endsmeet Animal Hospital and many other places,? said Mrs. Smith.

There are a mix of students at the school ? from BHS, Saltus and St. George?s Prep ? who left their former schools because the pace of learning did not fit their needs.

?The spectrum covers average students to gifted,? said Mrs. Smith.

?One student is part of the Johns Hopkins enrichment programme and two more are going to apply for it. We also have students with Attention Deficit Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, Dyslexia, Cerebral Palsy and spina bifida.

But the school faces many challenges including meeting its costs.

?The children pay school fees which pay for the staff, rent and utilities. There is nothing left. The kids are still happy and we are doing as much as we can,? said Mrs. Smith.

?We have a hot lunch every Friday to pay for the drama teacher to come three times a week.?

Mrs. Smith is hoping to get the school designated as private.

?Once we have that in place we can become a registered charity,? she said.

Mrs. Smith left The Bermuda High School for Girls after 24 years to open the nursery in Shelly Bay.

After three years of working at the nursery she opened Learning Express. The mother of the daughter with spina bifida is still running the nursery in Shelly Bay for Mrs. Smith.

?I retired twice and hated it. I was not ready to knit or crochet.?