Many of you know I work in a school in Hull that was wrecked by the floods in Hull last year and we have been bussed to temporary schools since then while our own school was being repaired, refurnished and re stocked, it has been put off time after time and is finally is almost ready.
Today we packed everything up from the temp school and boarded the buses for the last time.
We are going home after the half term break.
We are going home!! We are finally going home!!!!!
XX Jeannine
That's cause for celebration. You will be so pleased to be back again. :) :) :) :) :)
That's great Jeannine.Hope all goes well for you. :D
yippie :)
having had to spend several years working out of a "temporary" portacabin (why are your feet always cold!), I know what a relief it is to get back to a proper building.
Good luck with the move, I hope it goes smoothly and wishing you well.
Great news Jeannine. The tone of your post tells us how much you love the work and the school. We all pray that everything is being done to ensure that it never happens again.
I hope that they have made it a bit more flood proof this time as you are in such a vulnerable position in Hull. Glad you will be going back to it soon Jeannine and I expect the children will be thrilled too.
Great news Jeanine...........welcome home :D
What a relief that will be. Are you having a party? I wonder if you've been able to make any extra improvements or is it all just back as it was?
Thank you all, it is a huge relief, I have been a taxi for all this time as I have the insurance to cover driving kids due to the nature of my job. So any kids that were late, sick, any with medical appointments, left the PE kit at home etc, I have been driving around, so it will be good to get back to my own job. Even a phone with a cord on will be a change, our mobiles have seen some work!! Actually even access to a photocopier close by.
We were not in mobile classrooms, we were in a disused wing of another school, all except the tinies who had been given a classroom at yet another school.
In the morning whatever the weather I was directing the traffic out at the gate so the 5 double decker buses could get to the kids. It was funny to see the tinies, some as young as 3 1/2 climbing on to buses day by day.
Everything in the school was lost, so the whole place is brand new and yes there are improvements.
We have been given a large sum of money by The Rotary , this is going mostly to playground facilities which will be smashing.
The rest is all new, from the doors and floors right down to the last book and pencil.
My own block which is for parents will be the last to be finished and I am hoping it will be done for Easter.I have all lovely new light oak furniture and royal blue chairs, and my creche will have all new kiddie fittings, like baby armchairs etc. My kitchen will be all new, and this time I get a dishwasher.
It was heartbreaking when it happened as my block was only a year old as it was.
Yes, you can be sure we will have a party when we settle in.
We were actually celebrating our 40th birthday the week of the floods, in fact the Saturday open day which was to have roundabouts, a pet show, agility dogs and a concert to name a few, was called off on the day after we had all the stuff laid out, the rains became torrential by 10 am and we had no choice but to take everything down. We are hoping to perhaps try again, and we are doing a production of Grease this year which will be fun for primary school kids to act in.
The school does look super nice, everything is colour coordinated and there are interactive whiteboards in every classroom now, I am hoping to get one added to my parent block this year too.
It was weird making orders for everything right down to paperclips.
My office which I share with the deputy head is finished , so I have access to a computer and printer at work again. It is amazing what we take for granted.
Our school kitchens are not finished yet, but the dining room is, butwe will still have food bussed in.
It has been a very stressful time, several of our teachers had there homes flooded too and our head is still not back in hers, but the staff were amazing, especially the head, everyone pulled together, made do with what we borrowed, begged etc and kept very cheerful. The kids were great, they seemed to adapt very well , but of course are thrilled about going home. Parents were supportive which helped a lot.
We will all be in over the holiday to set things up, the playground is being resurfaced as we speak as the water lifted the whole area that was paved, and the area that was concrete is covered on containers full of supplies and furniture, so it is going to be hard work for a bit longer.
You are right, I do love my job which is why I didn't retire last summer at 65, in fact my contract which was officially up in March has just been renewed for another three years.
Gosh those kids keep me young, I think I would shrivel up in a monthe without work.
Thank you all again, it is a wonderful feeling, we are all so excited.
XX Jeannine
What wonderful news to hear J! So pleased for you, for the school, and for the children..
I wondered about this, tho:- "It has been a very stressful time, several of our teachers had there homes flooded too and our head is still not back in hers"
What's the general situation like with homes that were deluged...and how's your lottie btw?
Lish xx
Lish, some of our staff have got back into their homes, but the heads was gutted, she has builders in but it will be a while yet, she is a long way from the school too. Of course she had great insurance so she is well covered from that point of view.
Most of our parents had no insurance.The estate that the school is on was badly flooded, many families are living on caravans outside their homes, the council are very slow to repair the houses , most had concrete floors so they didn't have the problem of wood rotting but all tiles, etc were no good but once the water went down they could get in to clean up, but all doors, skirtings etc were shot. Everything on the ground floors was gone, so no kitchen etc.
The situation now is, some are half living in the houses, none have the flooring finished so they are walking on bare concrete floors, the heating is fixed in most now but the houses smell mouldy with still lots of condensation, but they are slowly getting there. Some parts are worse than others, but it is very hard for them.
I finally plucked up the courage to go to the lottie this week, I haven't been for months, although John has.
The weeds that had grown have for the most part dies off and we are going to black plastic one full lottie this week and concentrate on the raised bed one.
I am pretty sure that all the soft fruit have had it,and I had about 25 bushes overall plus the raspberry fence. I don't know about the asparagus bed and strawberry bed, although there was a bit of green here and there in that.
The foundations on the newer greenhouses held, although the old wooden one is about ready to drop. Some of the raided beds floated away a bit but I think they can be pulled back into place.
It is the weeds I think, that are upsetting me, we went from 2 lovely clean lotties to chaos and for John and I clearing them now is not an easy task.
Anyway, compared to so many folks we are very fortunate as all the streets around me were flooded about from about 4 which were on a rise, we luckily were one of them, and again I am no where near the school , nor are our lottie so you can see how widespread the damage was.
We will all get there soon.
XX Jeannine
Wonderful news, Jeannine! What a struggle to be flooded and have to begin all over again. I've never gone through such chaos and tragedy personally but did see it when our church group went south to help in the New Orleans area rebuilding after hurricane Katrina hit. Such a rotting foul mess that was for miles!
One woman whose family was displaced to another state said her family was made stronger through the experience as I imagine you all have been. Congratulations on being a survivor! I hope your lottie plants are tougher than expected.
Thank you GrannieAnnie. Compared to the folks in New Orleans we were very fortunate, their plight was unimaginable, How super of your church to go and help. XX Jeannine
That's wonderful news, Jeanine - and together with the arrival of your beautiful grand daughter, you must be walking on air!
Hull really suffered, and sometimes I feel they are not mentioned enough. So glad to hear you are going home after all this time Jeannine. Congratulations to you all, it will be briliant having your own proper space again. Lots of love, busy_lizzie :-*
Do you think enoguh has been done to prevent the same thing happening again, Jeannine? Hull seemed to be ok in the recent heavy rain, from what I've heard.
So glad to hear your news Jeannine, you must be so relieved.
Quote from: caroline7758 on February 09, 2008, 15:57:52
Do you think enoguh has been done to prevent the same thing happening again, Jeannine? Hull seemed to be ok in the recent heavy rain, from what I've heard.
They have flooded some land near Alkborough to allow an 'overflow', but thats the other side of the Humber
My daughter lived in Hull until just before the floods, I was relieved when I heard about the flooding that she had moved.
But oh, what a trial everyone else had. And hearing your story Jeanine....my heart went out to you and everyone in Hull and in other parts of the country who suffered.
We were so lucky not to have houses flooded or any other damage. although towns and surrounding areas very close to us did suffer....but not on the scale you did J.
Lets hope for a better summer this year
Let's hope that 2008 is a much better year for you than 2007. New school, new granddaughter ... and better health all round as well! :)
Yes. At last some good news. Hope you all enjoy your new premises.