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brought to you by those kind chaps who nobody really cares about, but who somehow find out more than they should
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Forum Created 11th March @ 17:10
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Update 15-03-06 @ 18:35
The reception is up and running, and they've finished doing all the wiring around the school hall. The path to Wooldridge is getting a lot worse now, and it looks like people have been riding lawn mowers around the theatre...or that small tractor. Results should come out tomorrow, a week after all the other schools have had theirs, we'll wait and see if they have an excuse for us. Please contact me if you have any more news/rumours. Pictures of the front of the school SHOULD be up tomorrow.
Update 13-03-06 @ 18:50
Sam has put up some more pictures of the school in the state that it is in now. Check them out on his blog. Thanks for these Sam.
Update 13-03-06 @ 17:55
Still not much to report, nothing has happened that I know of that's of any interest to anyone really. The heating in Humanities is still sketchy in the right side (where the ICT bit is) of the building, but the left side is fine. There's also been carpet put in over the weekend, and there's going to be more carpeting done tonight, so I guess they're making it nice and homely as it is the focal point of the college now. Still using paper plates etc, so the water and electricity is obviously still sketchy. I still don't think we're allowed to plug our laptops in over in humanities because it might short out the power for Bideford or something, at least that's what they fobbed us off with. Probably just can't afford the bill!
Speaking of incompetence the AS resit results are still not available, and some of the staff are under the false belief that they are not supposed to be released until this thursday. In reality they were released last thursday but Edgehill just doesn't know how to work a PC.
If anyone has any information please share it!
Update 11-03-06 @ 13:40
For some reason as I was driving home at 5.30am this morning I remembered that I hadn't put up the information about where the fire started; they've now pinpointed the spot. It was in the far corner of the Geography Store Cupboard, that is, what used to be the Music Costume Cupboard. I don't see how it could be anything other than an electrical fault, although they haven't yet confirmed it.
Update 10-03-06 @ 16:45
Well once again it's the weekend, the first weekend since the fire. We've just gotta hope that nothing else burns down this weekend.
A few small things have happened today, firstly the Family Room of the Junior School is now officially a music room; all the chairs and tables have been moved in etc.
There are quite a few changes of rooms since the original plan, and I think there will be more on Monday, so I will try and obtain an overall timetable and put it on the site, which will show every lesson in every room. In addition I believe Miss Venner is now situated in Room 9, but will be moving out in two weeks.
The glass roof mentioned in earlier and also in the letter will apparently be a dome style roof, something a bit like the Eden Project. This is according to Mr Taylor.
More pictures were taken today, but Alex has them so I doubt I'll be able to get hold of them until Monday, but they are very good pictures and worth the wait.
We still have polystyrene plates and cups, and plastic cutlery, so I'm guessing the water usage is still minimal in the main building. I managed to make 4 different holes in my plate today. The power in places such as the Head's office is on, but it is sketchy and frequently cuts out, this might be fixed by monday as the letter said, but we'll have to see.
Re-sit results for AS and GCSE should have been available yesterday, however, they are not. All the other schools have them, but we don't. It's not that we don't have the computers and internet connection available to access them (they are sent to the school online), it's that we don't have the program suitable to read them, and no one can be bothered to find out. At least this is what we're being told. I suspect that the case is no one is computer literate, and so they're going to pass it off until the paper results arrive next Thursday. We'll all have to wait 'till then I guess.
That's it for now, if I find out anything else I'll update over the weekend, but if not the next update will be on Monday.
Update 09-03-06 @ 20:55
Here are some more pictures taken from the back of the school. Thanks to Tim for these. Please to not distribute, print or reuse these in any way without his permission.
Biology and Physics
Biology and Physics 2
Close up of something frazzled hanging from the Biology window
The View of Biology from Wooldridge Common Room
Geography and Biology
Geography Close Up
Tarpaulin covering a hole
Overall View
Overall View, Including Rubble on Ground and Roof of Girl's Toilets
Update 09-03-06 @ 19:25
Here are a few pictures taken from the back of the school after the fire. Please do not re-use or print these in any way. We will be adding some high quality ones soon, but for now these are all that are available.
Biology
Biology Close Up
Biology and Staircase
Biology 2
Railings and Rubble
Even more Rubble
Geography and damaged roof
Overall Shot
Update 09-03-06 @ 18:30
A letter went home today outlining what has happened to the school. This letter pretty much says a lot of what has already been reported on here, but for those who haven't got the letter I have scanned it. There are two pages.
Page 1
Page 2
(both of these are about 1.2 MB in size, so if you have a slower connection, please allow time for loading)
I think that the letter pretty much states everything there is to know, but I have a bit more news; I believe that more ceilings collapsed yesterday, especially ones around the old Drama Studio. In addition, a walk way will be made from Wooldridge as soon as the scaffolding is up. The scaffolding could take anywhere from 5 days to 2 weeks, depending on how much room the workmen have. Once this is up we will be able to walk underneath it, hopefully. In addition Mr Clark is trying to get the fence moved back a few feet on the burnt side of the school, to create a small path from Wooldridge up towards the sports hall.
The "temporary roof" that is mentioned in the letter I believe will be a glass one, which should look pretty cool! But it will help because it will allow daylight for the builders to do their job, and also protect the school from more water logging.
That's all I've got for now, if you have any more information please contact me. solon@bitterdays.co.uk
Update 08-03-06 @ 21:55
I should also mention that Shebbear and Grenville are kindly offering to help supply the school with text books etc. I believe most of Geography's resources will be on loan from Grenville, whilst both Grenville and Shebbear will help out with the sciences. Cheers guys!
I think I also forgot to mention that the portable classrooms will be placed in the "Northdown Road Block" (New Building/Humanities) car park. This will probably take up most the space, and it is likely that parking in the Junior School will once more be allowed, and the overflow I guess will have to be on Northdown Road itself.
Update 08-03-06 @ 18:10
There isn't much to report today as far as I know. I'm pretty sure some lessons were taking place in the Main School today, but I'm not 100% certain. The roof of the drama studio, whilst it has "collapsed", isn't so bad that you can't get in. I think it's just caved a bit. A lot of power is still out in the Main School building, they are currently using two strip lights to put wiring in above and around the main entrance. Lights are on in the Dining Hall and the right stair case, but I believe that is all. If anyone has any pictures of the school before it was burnt down please send them to me! And we have more pictures coming soon, sometime tonight hopefully.
The entire music department is now in Shaw Lea (the old sick bay). Not the actual rooms sick bay used, but further along the corridor, through the door and on the right, opposite the small kitchen. I believe that the room in which Mr. Taylor was temporarily based (nearest room to the senior school as you go in to the junior school and turn right) will become a practice room for Music. In addition, two practice rooms will be made in the "Costume Storage Area", which is the first building on your left as you go in the Junior School, above the old prep/art rooms. I think there are two rooms there, the first room will be split in two for the practice rooms, and the room at the end will become a teaching room.
If anyone wants to know what is happening in the upstairs tech room, well there's a lot of computers and bits and pieces salvaged from science. There's still a lot of work to do but I doubt it will take long to get everything sorted! A lot of people pulled together today to help move the music department, and the job was finished by the end of the day. Thanks everyone!
Update 07-03-06 @ 20:30
The roof of the Drama Studio caved in this afternoon. This will add to the cost of repairs, and they still have to figure out when to drain the place... probably in the Summer! In addition classes will start being moved back in to the main school tomorrow (Wednesday 8th), well ahead of schedule. This is largely due to the massive effort given by some students in helping to clear the building. I believe this means that the electrical problems will have been fixed by the morning. Thanks to Sam for this information.
Update 07-03-06 @ 20:10
I have been informed that what was H.E. is now Chemistry. It is unclear whether H.E. has been moved to other premises, or simply cancelled. Unless the two are sharing. Thanks to Tim for this information.
Update 07-03-06 @ 19:00
This article has recently been published on the "This Is Devon" website. However, when they say suspicious, I do not believe that they mean arson etc. Although there have been suggestions of this around the school, I do not believe that the fire was deliberate. However, that said, the police have removed the hard drives from the CCTV cameras to inspect, through this they will be able to see almost anyone who was inside the building over the weekend. This should help remove any rumours of "suspicious" circumstances. If any large building goes up in flames there are bound to be cries of arson, but I would hedge my bets on it being an electrical fault in the wiring which was recently put in to serve the new geography department.
Thanks once more to Banana-Man for pointing out this link.
Update 07-03-06 @ 18:50
I should mention that the drama studio is unusable because of water damage; all the water seeped through and it is now a swimming pool. The damage has been worsened by the continual rain
we've had today, and rain is still forecast for the next 3 days at least. There has, to my knowledge, been no structural damage to the drama studio. (Update - there has - the roof caved in)
Update 07-03-06 @ 18:35
Mr. Clark on Lantern this morning has said that damages have reached the £1,000,000 mark, and that 70% of the roof will need replacing. Thanks to Banana-Man for this info.
Update 07-03-06 @ 18:25
I thought it would be a good idea to let you all know which room certain teachers are in, because there was some confusion this morning, especially as Mr Clark didn't know the room numbers.
Room 1: Mrs Johnson
Room 2: Mrs Venner & Miss Toubin (until Monday, then Miss Toubin takes her old room I think). Mrs Auvery is also here.
Room 3: Mr Fuller
Room 4: ICT
Room 5: ICT spares I think, if not let me know.
Room 6: Nothing
Room 7: Mr Riley
Room 8: Mr Charles
Room 9: Mr Kingsford
Room 10: Mrs Eaves/Rev Holden
Old ICT and Tech are now Science. As far as I know H.E remains the same. (Update - H.E. is now Chemistry.)
Mr Taylor now resides in the Junior School. If you go in to the junior school and turn right, it is the classroom at the end of the path on the right hand side. The classroom joining that is the "family room" for the junior school so it's pretty obvious which one you should use. He will be there until Monday, maybe longer, depending on how they can work out the power glitches.
The drama studio will be situated in the main school hall. I think this is possibly the best thing to come out of all this because it's perfect for it. I'm not sure when this move will take place, or where drama will be until then. If anyone has any information please let me know
Music is being moved to Shaw Lea, which is the old Junior School boarding house and sickbay.
Here's a simple run down of the plan for the next few weeks. In roughly two and a half weeks we will have portable classrooms arriving. There will be two portable science labs, with air conditioning and toilets, one will seat 20 and the other 10. Mrs Toubin and Mr Taylor will move back in to the main school on Monday (hopefully). Their classrooms will NOT be affected by building work or water damage, but may smell for a while! (Update - Classes should start moving back in to the main building on the 8th, well ahead of schedule)
Rooms that were affected by the fire and subsequent water damage are: The 4 science labs, Mr Charles' room, Mr Riley's room, Mr Fuller's room, Mr Kingsford's room, the Drama studio and probably some others in that area. Obviously the U5th common room, which was completed at the end of Friday, will not be unusable for at least 6 - 9 months, as will most of the left side of the building. It looks like 11 rooms have been lost in total though.
It is estimated that it will take approximately one year to complete the building work needed to restore, and hopefully improve the left side of the school. It is estimated that quite a few of the undamaged rooms will be available for use in 6 - 9 months. The total cost of the fire is not yet known, or the exact cause. It is likely to be an electrical fault, and it started roughly above the roof of biology, or just below the old wooden store cupboard that was next to geography.
We'll get some pictures up of the damage later, from closer up and different angles. Here is a picture of Edgehill before the fire, and although you can't see the far side of the school very clearly, there is damage in parts you can see. I will try and take a picture tomorrow from the same angle so that a comparison can be made.
The 6th form centre is as it was before the fire. However, to get to lessons the 6th for must now embark on a journey around the theatre on the grass. Wellies have been advised, and I think that they're probably going to be essential, especially with all the girls moaning about their wet shoes! Whilst this trip is likely to become a lot more muddy over the next few days it's good that everyone is pulling together to get this done, if we're going to get through our exams we've got to take the bad with the bad, and get on with it.
The catering department seems to have been slightly affected, because they do not have the water needed for washing up. This is good in one way and bad in another. It means plastic knives, forks and spoons, and paper plates. These plates can't hold as much as normal plates and the cutlery is extremely inefficient. I left lunch feeling almost as hungry as when I entered. But this is only because I usually eat half the food they've cooked by myself! I admire the efforts of the school in the respect that they are still managing to cater for the boarders and day students alike, with ease. The good point about all this is that disposal of the cutlery is a breeze; everything goes in the bin.
I want to take this opportunity to point out the bravery and excellence of the fire department. In many of the photographs on Sam's blog you can see the firemen on top of the roof, just feet away from the flames. The fire team responded extremely quickly, and I think there were roughly 20 fire engines at the college by the end of the day. It is a great help also that the fire team has previously trained at the college, and also trained scaling the roof quickly. In addition, John and Matt Branch, two of the workmen at the college, are also firemen, and knowing the school like the back of their hands they knew what they had to do to stop the spread. If the fire had reached the library it would have been a lot harder to stop, but the firemen put a hole in the roof to enable a hosepipe to get in. Thanks guys!
If there's anything else which hasn't yet been mentioned please let me know: solon@bitterdays.co.uk
Update 06-03-06 @ 20:50
The Edgehill website is being updated! http://edgehill.devon.sch.uk/ Although this is only a placeholder, it means that they've actually decided to update for the first time in a long time. Previously on the site they were still advertising for English and Chemistry teachers, as well as a Head's Secretary. Those positions have been filled for at least 6 months. Hopefully the school will have something detailing its plans for the future. We'll update when we find out more.
Update 06-03-06 @ 20:30
"As for tomorrow morning, there's going to be an assembly in the sports hall at 8.40 where everything will be outlined"
so now you know.
To the 6th Form: It has now been brought to light that (to quote a teacher) "will still have usage of Wooldridge, although, yes, there is some science stuff in there, I think." I'm sure that will come as a great relief to everyone (thanks to Tim for clearing that up). I have news that French will now be in Room 3 (by the boys toilets) with Mr Fuller, and Mrs Johnson will be in Room 2. It's currently looking as though this will be the case for the next 9 months(ish). We can assume also that English has been moved, as Maths was further down the corridor away from the fire than English, and there's a possibility that Rev. Holden will have moved as well, as her room was just a little further than Mrs Johnson's. We shall wait and see with anticipation regarding the situation with books in the library, but keep your fingers crossed for a total loss so we can get some up-to-date books for a change!
Thank you to Tim for most of the information given in this article. The teacher quoted was Mr Fuller (Languages).
Update 06-03-06 @ 19:55
Apparently the computers (bursary, I imagine) are also situated in Wooldridge, so they do not get wet.
Update 06-03-06 @ 19:00
Obviously you'll have heard about the fire. As you may know, Edgehill's standard of communication is lacking, and so we're making it our aim to bring you the unofficial news, the rumours, the scandal..not that there is any.
So this is the situation so far, as of writing there has been news of the school on Spotlight (southwest local news on BBC One)
This broadcast basically said that 7 rooms are out of use for at least a year, and also rooms below those that were burnt will be cleared whilst construction is taking place. I reckon that this means the entire left side of the school is ruined for a year. The music department looks like a no-go, and geography and science obviously will have to be re housed. I have no idea how this will affect English, but we can only hope that the library went up in flames.
As you may have seen on the news, some of the books, mark schemes, work plans etc, were salvaged. This means that lessons could probably resume some time next week with full normality, but I shouldn't imagine that going back to school tomorrow will, as the news broadcast said, be "a quick turnaround". As far as I see it, there are 7 available rooms in the humanities block, and there are 7 years in the senior school. This means that different sets, and year groups that have different forms and hence subjects, are pretty much screwed. This is of course assuming that the main building is unusable, but I would imagine that rooms on the far side of the building will be in use, such as Mr Taylor's form room (Year 7's) and possibly the rooms where the Deputy Head's office is. This could house the school, but we shall wait and see if they are clever enough to actually do that.
For the 6th form. You know how much we've been screwed around this year? We thought it couldn't get any worse. Think again chumps, apparently we're being moved to the Sports Hall. This information has been obtained through various sources and is, at the moment, unconfirmed, so don't count on it. But apparently they moved all the chemistry and other science equipment salvaged into the 6th form centre; wooldridge. This includes all those lovely chemicals. Maybe we'll have something to eat and drink now? I don't know, but we shall find out tomorrow morning.
In addition, on the subject of humanities, they have simply moved all the boxes and tables there, and not bothered sorting it out. I imagine they are hoping that the collective force of 150 students will do the insurance company's work for them, so expect to be moving boxes tomorrow boys and girls. Apparently many of the rooms are in no state for teaching, due to the fact that they basically closed the building down and moved everything out, and are now piling boxes of wet paper in there. Smooth move.
On another note drama is supposedly taking place in the still-wet entrance hall.
More to come tomorrow!
Here are some pictures of the fire:
Album 1 Picture 79
Album 1 Picture 80
Album 1 Picture 106
Album 1 Picture 119
Album 1 Picture 134
Album 1 Picture 150
Album 1 Picture 153
Album 1 Picture 186
Album 2 Picture 23
Album 2 Picture 33
Album 2 Picture 35
Pictures courtesy of Sam (more pics on his blog). Thanks Sam!
Please note: This page is designed as it is to reduce bandwidth and also loading times for those people (Alex) who have dialup. It also makes finding and reading updates easier.
bravenet.com
