At present I am teaching in a Primary School in Glasgow. I have been there since May. It is a total contrast to the school where I had spent the previous 6 months.
That school was new, bright, spacious, great gymnasium, computer suite (sadly with slow old pcs that take an hour to start). It was well equipped, with 3 rolling white boards of a great size in each room. It was a good teaching atmosphere for pupils and chidren.
Sadly this school comes nowhere near that, and for children and staff it is a discouraging place of work that affects motivation.
In May, the long awaited refurbishment of the annexe began, and the building of a gymnasium. For some time, most of the playground had been fenced off in anticipation of this work.The whole school enters and exits through one classroom.
The present gymn space is also the assembly hall, the dining hall and the thoroughfare between the 2 ends of the school. The ceiling is only about 10 feet high. Hardly suitable to train budding Olympic athletes, and not suitable- because of its multi-purpose -for 2 PE sessions per class.
Had the extension not been available for August, there would not have been sufficient classrooms. Of course, it is not completed yet, and the gymnasium is in its early stages. The children and teachers are trying to work amidst a building site.
During the holidays, the 2 teachers who would be in the extension, came in to school to paint their rooms as there was no money in the refurbishment for this.
Their classrooms have no computers, no carpeting, and mixture of whatever chairs and tables could be found. The windows have no blinds and minimum ventilation.
And part of the annexxe is being used by the workmen. The boys toilet there is used by the builders. The boys have to cross to the main building, all the way round the safety fence to use the toilets.
Child protection? Health and Safety?
I was in a classroom in the main building. I just had enough furniture- a mixture of seating and tables.
I have a non interactive smart board, and a flip chart sized white board. One teacher had no furniture at all on the first day.
Resources are limited. Classrooms have low ceilings and require flourescent lighting all day long, even in summer. Not all the lights work either.
All the teachers spent the 2 INSET days preparing their classrooms, arranging furniture and putting up teaching aids.
Then on Friday, I was told that because of unusual circumstances, I would have to move my class over to the annexe, while a class from there moved to my room for a period of 6 weeks. Needless to say, this is very disruptive to class management, especially when you have 33 children to move, with resources and there is no help in moving.
So now I am in there, with my class, in an under resourced room, over heated and badly ventilated as we cannot close out the sun or bring in sufficient fresh air. There are not enough sliders under the tables to accommodate the childrens trays. I have no desk or chair. I have a long walk from the class to the staffroom at breaktimes. The 2 staff there didn't think it worthwhile and stayed in the annexe.
There is an interactive whiteboard on the wall, bit no projector and no computers. I am not even sure where they will put any computers
Meanwhile Health and safety visited, indicated problems like no medical room, too many cars in the car park, wanted to remove some noise reducing sliding doors, but appear to have missed the issues of children and building sites, builders using the childrens' facilities, and the fact that in the event of a fire staff in the staffroom could be trapped as there is only one exit, the windows being fully caged!
I have only been here a short time. I have the greatest admiration for the long term staff who have endured these conditions for much longer than I.
I noticed that the HMI Inspection some years ago highlighted some of these issues. I notice that the post of HT has been advertised more than once with little response.
There has been talk of introducing performance related pay for teachers. There has been recent talk of urging teachers to give up their own time to encourage children in sport.
But if such things are to happen, there must be an even playing field. It must be obvious that results will also be affected by the physical surroundings in which the children and teachers are operating.
That conditions can be so vastly different within schools in one Authority is shocking.
Maybe it seems worse to me because of the contrast between my 2 most recent postings.
I will only be here for about another 6 weeks or so. I could not envisage a year here. It is grossly unfair that conditions should be so varied for the users of the Education service of this City.
Someone must know what is going on. The issues must be addressed soon.
Right............got that off my chest....here are some Canadian photos. Toronto in the sun.
