Ian Dow visited the school
and writes this report. Click on any image to see a larger
version.
I visited the school on the 13th December and
was given a full guided tour of the facilities. The school is
currently occupying the new sports hall building, and the old Girls'
Grammar School, as the other new facilities are not yet completed,
and the Tower is being converted.
It is an interesting mix of the ancient and the
modern.
Having met my guide, Janet Anderton, by the
bicycle sheds (how romantic), we set of to walk first to UCAB, which
is the old Girls' Grammar School. There is a fenced off path, which
takes you past the superb new sports fields, with its tennis courts
and Astroturf all-weather pitches, and keeps you well away from the
building work.
The first building you pass is the old swimming
pool. This is still in use, and looks in need of some urgent
repairs. There is plenty of rot and a shortage of paint. Inside it
looks a little dark and gloomy, and certainly reminiscent of the
facilities of the 60's that I remember (not that we had a swimming
pool in my day, we used to go to other pools, occasionally).
The next building is the school's temporary
cafeteria, which although it is in an old building is bright and
cheerful inside, with a gleaming stainless steel serving area.
We then went into the main UCAB building. This
is now old, dark, and if it were to be in permanent use, would need
at least a lick of paint. We went up the stairs, with kids rushing
up and down, (as it was period change time), but there was no rule
of “up the wide stairs and down the narrow ones” now.
In the old hall, which was once an impressive
room, it now looked very gloomy, although, to be fair, it was
probably not helped by the gloomy December day outside. It was here
that the smell of old mustiness hit you. The old building smells
old, looks old, and is rumoured to have a few tiny inhabitants that it shouldn’t
have, and they bite. Also in this building are classrooms and the
senior pupils’ library, with the librarian Jane Chatburn.
We walked back down the path to the new
buildings. What a contrast. Clean, airy, bright colours, although
it is getting dirty a little too quickly. A combination of a lot of
mud outside from the builders, and some children who are not giving
the new facilities the respect that they deserve, and the lower half
of the walls, and the floors are already looking a little dirty.
You can even see it on the photo of the Class Room Corridor opposite
(if you look at the enlarged version).
The new sports hall is superb, the class rooms
bright and air conditioned. The new key stage 3 library for the
pupils in years 7, 8 & 9, is bright and well laid out. There
are chilled drinking water fountains everywhere, and there are a
host of other facilities.
Having walked through the building we came out
to what will be the new reception area, with its turnstiles to let
in pupils, but keeping other people out. The swipe cards with which
they will gain access, will also be used to make the school a
cashless zone, with all lunchtime and other purchases taking place
on the card.
We walked up the wibbly wobbly path and back to the
new bike sheds. These are not like the old ones these. They have
strong security fencing, which is mesh so all activity inside is
clearly on view, and they are brightly lit. If you were stupid
enough to ask, where does everyone go now for snogging and smoking,
well then the answer is obvious – snogging is a waste of valuable
time on unnecessary preliminaries and smoking is done almost
anywhere off school premises!!
Gunner must be turning in his grave!
It will be very nice when it is finished, but
there is still a long way to go.
