Teaching Tales-Week 3: Things Are Heating Up!

Hi everyone!

Maybe it’s too soon for fire jokes, but since none of you reading this were involved in the situation, I figure it’s okay.  The first two thirds of my week were fairly unremarkable.  I was busy but I felt like I had a much better handle on things than I did during Week 2.  We had ‘Open Evening’ on Wednesday night so I was at the school for over 12 hours that day since I live so far away and there was no way I could go home between the end of school at 3:00 and the beginning of the event at 6:00.  Year 6s and parents from the town came to tour the school because they have to apply to whatever secondary school they want their kids to go to in November.  We basically had to explain what our program was about, be sociable and generally “sell” the school.  I got home last night at 9:00 feeling completely shattered and then got up and went to school today, expecting another routine day.  I was certainly wrong about that!

My Year 9 Literacy and Year 7 Science lessons went as usual.  I was just about to grab a Weetabix bar out of my bag at break time when the fire alarm went off.  We went out to the tennis courts out back and I lined my mentor group up in alphabetical order to make sure that everyone was there.  Some of the kids started saying that the smelled smoke, but I assured them that it was just a drill and that we would be back inside in a few minutes.  At this point I was a bit perturbed that a fire drill had interrupted my break and that I would not have time to set up for my next class like I thought I would.  This is until I noticed a smoky haze coming from the far end of the school building.  Shortly after this our Head of House informed us that it was a real fire and that we had to move the kids into the back football field to get away from the smoke. 

Before long we knew that the fire was serious and fire trucks were beginning to arrive.  Before too long there were over 30 firefighters working on combating the blaze!  The kids were asking me millions of questions like “Will we be sent home?” and “What started the fire?” but I really did not know anything other than the fact that the school was burning.  None of the students in my group were panicking which was great.  However, there was an ambulance with medical staff on the field with us for students who needed any assistance. 

I spent the waiting time chatting to the students in my group and the two groups on either side to try to keep the mood a bit lighter.  Despite the gravity of the situation it was kind of nice to have some time to talk to them without having to worry about staying on task in lessons and it was nice to meet some of the older students that I don’t get to teach.

Side note: I still think it’s funny that when almost any of the students meet me for the first time they tell me that they like my accent and/or ask if I am American! 

Eventually we were told that we were in full evacuation mode and that the students had to call their parents and either show us proof through text or a phone call that they had permission to go home.  Most of the students at the school live nearby so as long as they had a house key they were able to walk back.  That process was crazy since I was surrounded by students calling my name and holding cell phones out to me so that I could get the word from their guardians.  The noise and confusion around certainly did not create the best environment for phone conversations!  The few students that were left went in the school’s mini-bus that is used for class trips with a few teachers and were dropped off at home or at the home of emergency contacts nearby.  The teachers knocked on doors to make sure that the students were able to get into the house and had some place to go and eventually everyone was home safe and sound.   

Once the kids were all safe I started worrying about how I was going to get my belongings out of the school.  It was raining out and really cold so I was pretty miserable and stressed after the whole ordeal.  We were allowed to go into the Tech block since it is separate from the rest of the school to wait for more instructions.  The Head teacher came in to tell us that we were not allowed into any other areas of the building and then I started to freak out a bit.  I did not have my wallet or keys to my flat so I could not go home or really go anywhere at all.  However, many of my colleagues, seeing how upset I was offered me a place to stay for the night so I knew I would not be out on the street.  Over the walkie-talkies a couple of the teachers tried to negotiate with those in charge of the operation to see if I could get my stuff out since the area of the building where my classroom is was not connected to the wing the was burning and was nowhere near the actual fire. 

Finally, the head IT guy at the school who was also a fire marshal brought me into my classroom for literally ten seconds to grab my stuff and get out.  After this I was able to text the other teacher that I drive to and from Southampton with as he was still driving students home on the bus to make plans for getting home.  He told me to wait a little longer before getting a train so I hung out with the other teachers that were still at school until he came back.  It turned out that he knew the fire-fighter who was in charge of everything so he was able to get his car out from the area that was right near the fire even though the road was blocked off.  About three hours after the fire started we were on our way back home.

When I got back to my flat I made a cup of tea, watched coverage of the incident on ITV News at 6:00 and read what local newspapers had to say.  Based on what various media is reporting the fire started in the boiler room and burned up the roof of the sports hall but was contained to that area.  There is some water damage from the fire-fighters' hoses in that area as well but the school should be open again on Monday.  I have an unexpected long weekend since school will be closed tomorrow and although it is not worth the cost I am happy to have an extra day to do some planning and to run some errands. 

I cannot believe that just as I was starting to feel less frantic a disaster like this happened but I am trying to see it all as part of the adventure that I am starting on this year.  I am just glad that everyone escaped safely and that the fire remained fairly contained.

That is my craziest story of the week!  There is never a dull moment in my life over here.

Love you all!

-Heather <3