Hello,
Your PHP version is OK. I can't tell what exactly causes this problem. It can be an issue with another Joomla extension. Or server issue. Or you didn't perform all upgrade steps properly.
Anyway, if you are satisfied with your site, you don't need to upgrade the template. You won't get any new features except the possibility to use child templates. You can block the message that informs you about the new template version if you go to System > Update Sites and delete all update sites whose name starts with "Sparky". There should be 5 of them.
Regards,
Milos
