Buildings
The school for three years.....
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After the fire in March 1996, the mobile 'city' was quickly set up and the children started back at school soon after Easter, having only missed three weeks of learning time, in total. The school remained here for three years.
There were nine double mobiles altogether; eight were for the sixteen classes and the ninth one, which was just one open space, was used for the school hall/dining area. It could not seat the whole school at once, so assemblies were mainly in year groups/coloured unit groups. From time to time Warwick boys school allowed their school hall to be used for whole school assemblies - and productions, which were as popular then, as they are now! The staff room and office were in the only building which was not affected by the fire, which was sited at the corner of Brunswick and Wilson Street. The main school gate was next to this. |
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Office and staffroomThis was the staff room and office. Whilst waiting for the mobiles to be set up, this was where the teachers met daily and prepared for the new school. For the first three days there was no toilet, so a kind parent in Brunswick street opened up her house for staff to use and arrived regularly with cups of tea!
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Mrs Butler, Office ManagerThe office was also the inclusion teaching space for three staff and their pupils, and reprographics area. It was extremely cramped and it was amazing that any work was achieved at all due to the noise of the photocopier and the phone ringing regularly.
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The PlaygroundDue to the fact that the playground space was minimal, the school had both split lunchtimes and split playgrounds. There was no space for ball games as there are today. For PE the pupils used Warwick school gym and Leyton sixth form college field.
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The Headteacher's OfficeMiss Cossar, the Headteacher, had this 'tin box' (left) for her office. It was rather claustrophobic so she stayed in there as little time as possible! It was mainly used for meetings with parents - and for planning the new school with various council representatives, which took up a lot of her time.
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The ClassroomsThe mobile classrooms were quite large, much bigger than the current classrooms. This was fortunate as the pupils were in them for the majority of the week. In those days there were only a few teaching assistants and no additional staff such as learning mentors, so the teachers and pupils only had each other for company!
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Nevertheless, there was a positive spirit amongst the school. Due to the shared experience, everyone was keen to do their best to contribute to overcoming any difficulties that were encountered.
Lunchtimes
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Lunches were prepared at Thorpe Hall school and delivered to Henry Maynard. It was quite an ordeal pushing all the meal trolleys up the ramp to the mobile! For the rest of the day the dining hall was used for assemblies and PE or year group activities. |
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Carrying on as usual
Class assembly
A class outside on the Fire Escape
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PE
Children at work in the mobiles
Staff on the way to the staffroom.
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Comic Relief - the staff as Spice Girls!
On the way to class.
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