On the 7th of September 2012 about 4:00pm, Dannevirke South School principal, Mr Stephen Snell got a phone call he will very much regret getting. The phone call, from an engineer that had recently examined the school buildings to check that they were earthquake and fire proof. He was ringing to say that the checks had found that block A, containing rooms 1,2,3,4,5,6,7, the library, office and staff room were not stable and heavy winds could easily topple it. This made the weekend a stressful one for some staff who were aware that they would not be turning up to their normal classes on Monday morning. Some of the staff, for example Mrs Clark, Buchanan and Mr Snell were some of the people who spent their weekends trying to find alternate classrooms for the kids whose were unsafe.
When children and their parents arrived at school on the following Monday morning they were greeted by teachers running up and down the street handing out Green notices. These notices had all the information available, included in them. Of course this was a big shock, causing a bit of chaos. When children arrived if they were in the affected classrooms they were told to go and put their bags in the hall and then go play outside. When the bell rang there was an assembly held in the hall where Mr Snell explained what was really going on, and what was going to be happening that day. Room 1 only had a slight problem that was fixed that day and they were back to normal the next day. But sadly for the other classrooms and facilities located in block A they are going to be out of their classrooms for a very long while. Rooms 2,3,4,5,6 and 7 watched a movie that morning, followed by games and other time filling activities.
Today is the 17th September 2012 and Rooms 2,3,4,5,6,7 have experienced some changes in the last 10 days, to allow our school to still be fully functional. These changes include, Room 14 moving out of their classroom, so that Room 7 can move into the Room 14 building. Room 14’s new home is one of the three classrooms operating from the hall. The other two classrooms working from the hall are Rooms 2 and 3, two of the hall classrooms have now got dividers and are currently waiting on carpet to arrive. While Rooms 4,5,6, had to move off site in order to be able to keep operational. They have relocated to Totara College, where the classrooms are large and very bright. They arrive at our school in the morning and take their bags to there buddy classrooms, Room 6 to 15, Room 4 to 16 and Room 5 to 17. When the bell goes they get their rolls called, then they catch a bus down to Totara College and start their normal day of learning . Then they catch the bus back at the end of the day to be picked up by their parents.
A lot of staff have moved around the school too. As the library is in block A Mrs Buchanan needed a new office, so she is going to be moving into the Room 16 back room. Mrs Easton’s office is also in the affected area, so she has already relocated to the Room 15 back room. The office staff have had to move into the new portacom to continue their work. Mrs Gyde is based at Totara College but is also working from South. Mr Snell doesn’t have a new office and it is unknown where he has been working from.
There have been many changes to facilities as well. The library is not open, while some resources may be moved from the resource room to another location so that they are accessible still. The computer suite is not able to be moved so we are not allowed in there. As I said earlier the office has been relocated to a recently moved portacom currently sitting in front of Room 1 and 2 on the road side. Before the portacom was hired, the office was located at the back of Room 10, in the office, which you could get to through the back door. This was quite a tiny fit as Mrs Jackson’s stuff was in there as well. The staff room has been moved to the stage, while the staff room kitchen is in the canteen kitchen. The photocopiers are also on the stage, which can get rather annoying when children or even teachers need to get stuff during class time as it interrupts the hall classes. You are only allowed to retrieve your photocopying in break times. Canteen has been closed as the staff room kitchen is where canteen would normally be.
Some daily and weekly routines have also changed or stopped. Assemblies are not happening or until next term at least, even then they might not be happening if it is raining because the only place where they can be held is outside on the asphalt. Also the lunch bay is connected to the main block so we have to eat outside our classrooms, where some of the lunch bay tables have been moved.
I think that the staff at Dannevirke South School have done a great job organising everything that needed organising to assure that all the student could still continue to come to school.
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