A Restful Summer?

15th January 14

Often people think that schools close their doors on the last day of term, set the alarm and don’t open them again until 1st September. In any school that is not true as there are planning, curriculum, staff and child orientated meetings (to name a few). There are classrooms to set up; backing boards, creating name labels, titles, sourcing materials, equipment – you name it, teachers and teaching assistants are doing it.

Here at Park Hill the school holidays mean that once Activity Week is over the teachers move out (reluctantly as, over the term, staff get to know their classrooms better than their own homes) and the builders move in.

The Building

The main building dates back to the Victorian era, is loved by the proprietor and staff as much as the children that attend and requires considerably more maintenance! We are very lucky that we have a team of builders who have worked at Park Hill for a quarter of a century and know the premises almost as well as we do. Park Hill School

Maintenance

On top of the usual maintenance that you would expect of any building, we often plan big building projects around the summer holidays where we have the longest stretch of time for the builders to move in and this summer has not been any different. We have an exhaustive list of what the builders have been up to, the most exciting being:

Second Steps has had a complete makeover; the most obvious changes being a brand new Interactive Board, new cupboards, storage, pin boards and most excitingly, a playhouse with, Miss Alexander assures us, a working doorbell!

Reception and Year 1 have had their connecting doors removed allowing for a complete redesign of Reception’s layout and more wall space in Year 1.

Year 2 have shiny new pegs and their own cupboard outside their classroom to store the childrens’ belongings.
Park Hill School

Outside

Not content with just the building being worked on, we even gave our drive a makeover! With former pupil, Will Harpur (tree surgeon) tidying up the old holly tree and growth on the banks either side of the drive and our builders concreting it and replacing the old steps to the path with an easy access ramp, we are convinced that Park Hill is currently the smartest building in the road!

Here are a few photos of the chaos that have been our summer break with some of the team who have made it possible. Now to get everything perfect in time for school next week!