MY NEW SCHOOL

This primary school in London (which will remain nameless because I don't think they want me to publish things about them!) is my new school placement. I have mixed feelings about the placement but so far so good.

(My classroom - Middle Floor)

The school was built in 1911 with the intention of having a boys' secondary school on the top floor, a girls' secondary school on the middle floor and a middle school on the bottom floor. As it was designed for three separate schools the layout is unusual. The stair on the top floor only go to the bottom floor, missing the middle floor out for example. So they have had to make a hole in one of the stairwells from the middle floor and add a little wooden staircase to join the top and middle floors. Also each floor has its own hall in the middle of all the classrooms. However only the bottom hall can be used for PE now as the middle floor has become an computer suite in part, study areas and play areas whilst still remaining very open. The top floor houses a stage.

(My Classroom)

I don't know what to make of the school yet. My class teacher seems very nice as do all the staff. My class are very young as they are Year 1, or Kindergarten as Canadians will know it. But unlike Kindergarten they are on full days. The entire school is very multicultural. Sixty-six percent of pupils use English as a second language. However in Year 1 it is more like 80% use English as an additional language. Most the children are Asian. There are only four white children in my class but that doesn't mean they are British! I am struggling with the children's names.


Now remember I was in a classroom before Christmas with an Interactive White Board. This is my class's black board and the teacher says it is so old you can't write on it or clean it so all I have available to me is paper about A3 size to write on. I think before the black boards are replaced the female staff are trying to get the head to invest in new toilet seats. The staff toilets are unisex and gross but I don't exactly live in at the Ritz so it doesn't bother me too much.

(My new Interactive White board - Paper in the corner)

The view from upstairs is amazing. You can see for miles! The school looks like a mountain in the neighbourhood. It's huge. Fortunately my commute should be alright it. Not the hour and a half the internet predicted. What a relief!