As the Head announces the assignment of classes to teachers for the coming academic year, hearts are pounding, sweat trickles down spines, the tension is palpable – who has to move classroom; who gets to stay put? A lot rests on this moment – moving classrooms is no joke. Do you get to spend the summer holidays relaxing with your nearest and dearest or, do you have to cajole said nearest and dearest to help you wrestle your possessions to your new classroom?
Let’s be clear the phrase ‘new classroom’ is actually a misnomer – it is ‘new’ to you, but well-used is a kinder description, and, depending on the fastidiousness of the previous occupant ‘decrepit’ is more often closer to the mark!
Once the initial shock of your imminent ‘move’ has subsided, it is replaced with the realisation that in order to ‘move’ you will have to enter the depths of cupboards, drawers and corners that you have blithely ignored for several terms – maybe even years. Your teaching assistant knows what’s coming – every spare minute they have between Sports Day; Transition Day, trips and visits will be devoted to packing you up! Who knows what horrors they will unearth? Will it be the unmarked RE projects from 5 years ago? A half-eaten packet of Hobnobs? Or the 500 copies of the accidentally copied Maths worksheet? Maybe that odd sock will finally turn up?
At this time of year, teachers can be seen loitering discreetly by their ‘new’ classroom casing the joint – how many cupboards are there? Where will my desk go? How much space is there for a book corner? How many displays will I need to create? Which is the quickest route to the photocopier?
The Head has decreed that whilst large boxes can be moved in the last week of term, no other time is available for ‘moving’. Days when school will be open are announced and penciled in your diary. Some teachers want to get in and get it done before relaxing and enjoying a well-earned rest. Others would rather wait, have the relaxation first then hit the deck running the week before term starts. Which ever approach you take, there is nothing quite like walking into your ‘new’ classroom for the first time.
What had seemed reasonably well-ordered in term time now seems to have transmogrified into the junkyard from hell with additional debris from the nearest recycling centre. With sinking heart and wrinkled nostrils, sleeves are rolled up, music blasted through the whiteboard – at least that works – and the cleaning marathon begun.
Over the years I’ve done this and after the first two moves, I thought I had seen it all – I was wrong! The most horrific move was to a classroom that had had long-term supply for most of the preceding academic year. The sink was blocked and contained an inky-black, oily liquid of dubious odour, floating in it were pencil shavings, soggy tissues and a couple of unidentifiable objects. The cupboard beneath the sink had been permeated with this foul liquid. Erect glue sticks were firmly embedded in solidified PVA glue and paintbrushes stiff with paint, were just some of the atrocities languishing on the shelves. The stench was foul. Surrounding the sink were piles of randomly dumped Art equipment – touch one pile and the rest tumbled domino fashion onto the floor. The bookshelves bore no books – just various items of lost property – a random shoe, a PE shirt, sheets of unmarked homework. Paper hung from dusty displays; hundreds of staples punched into the board fastening nothing at all. A sad and sorry state and that was just the small room to one side of the main classroom.
The Book corner with more broken shelves than books. Yet more random objects – 30 green pens; broken rulers, a rolling whiteboard on wheels that don’t roll, lids from Pritt sticks – you get the picture. Cupboards stuffed with worksheets – marked and unmarked; textbooks from a bygone era; half-eaten biscuits; teaspoons, all the ones AWOL from the staffroom, bear the tell-tale signs of strong, black coffee but then you unearth a gem! One of the most coveted resources – a whole – unopened pack of laminating pouches – the Holy Grail! Fueled with new enthusiasm for the task, you surge onwards with hope for more rewarding booty – fingers crossed it’s a box of Pritt sticks!
I hope your experience is not the same. I know I always tried to leave the classroom I was moving out of in a decent state for the next teacher. So, check that yours is not a horror story!
Clearance complete, now its time to stamp your mark on your home for the next 12 months. However you do it, embrace the move – it’s the dawn of a new era for you!
