School Conditions

[Venture]

Do you have a child attending Wick High School? When was the last time you visited the school and had a good look at the condition of the fabric of the school in which your child is being educated? Have your children voiced their concerns to you about the state of the school? Anyone's thoughts on this please.

[Sapphire2803]

It could with a few quid thrown at it to say the least, The main building looks amazing, so I think it would be an awful shame to tear it down and build a modern monstrosity.

The thing that shocks me is that it seems like whoever has control of the purse strings seems to think it's ok for the heating not to work properly! I wonder if they'd feel the same if it were their office that had no heating?

[Sapphire2803]

Forgot to say....

Yes, my eldest goes there, but he hasn't said anything. He wouldn't notice, he's 13 years old and there are girls.......

[angela5]

My kids complain at how cold the classrooms are, anytime i've gone into the office it's nice and warm.

[Flair]

I remember that place very well, memories that will not leave me in the near future.

There is no point beating around the bush about it: that school is a dump. It has been for a long time. Things did brighten up when Trail came on the scene. A bit of order came about, rules were enforced ever so slightly more than before and those who needed the heave-ho got so.

...but enough of my seemingly irrelevant tangent.

Basically, a school's materials are only in as good condition as they are kept. I've seen complaints be made before but nothing ever gets done because "they have no money for it." Which I know to be a load of rubbish, because they've put other things around. Widescreen TV in the canteen, top-notch computers in the learning support rooms, etc...

The school even made its own 'pupil council' to get pupil's views on what was good, bad and what needed to be done. A bit of a waste of time really since, as far as I know, nothing that was brought up (some pretty good ones too) ever got done.

[Sapphire2803]

My son has to cycle just over a mile to catch the bus to school which means that on a wet day, even with a waterproof coat he gets to school damp. He's been off with flu more times this year than ever before, I wonder if it's anything to do with the fact that on days like that he's wet AND cold for most of the day. I wanted him to take a change of clothes on wet days, but he said he wouldn't have time to get changed when they get in.

[Venture]

Hi Flair I can see you werent best pleased with your time at the school. Firstly the widescreen TV in the canteen as far as I am aware was provided by the company who supply the catering facilities to the school. Im not sure who paid for the IT equipment in the Learning Support section but all the recent new IT as well as all the work to refurbish the main hall has been paid for with money the school received by way of a bequest from a lady who died in America who was originally from Wick. These type of things are not bought by HRC who are solely responsible for the condition of the fabric of the building. Its the condition of the school I am on about.

[Flair]

Don't get me wrong, my time there was fine and well spent. It's the way things were run that I was less satisfyed with.

[Venture]

I assume you mean the day to day running of the school. So you were quite happy with the surroundings you were being taught in.

[Flair]

Yeah. Yeah I'd agree to that. But I'm like that, I'm not fussy. Surroundings are surroundings to me.

It's true that I think that the place is a bit of a coup. But I would never expect them to make their conditions better on my account.

[Yoda the flump]

Certainly seems to have improved since I was there twenty years ago, but then on parents evenings you only get to see certain parts of the school.

Have not seen the new block or chemi labs etc since I was a pupil.

[Cedric Farthsbottom III]

Was at the school on parents evening it looked awright.It seemed to be auld but wi a bit aw history.Even had one of the teachers,making me sweat.When she said that ma kid was about to learn Pythagoras Thereom,man I'd forgot aboot the CENSORED.Still havnae used it since.

[sphinx]

i think wick high school needs a total revamp like.......

[rfr10]

The older part of the school looks great from the outside, looks fine when you step inside the door but then as you walk through the school, it gets worse and worse. A minor thing- the colour choice of the carpet in the Crush Hall is disgusting. Gym is in a state but I believe they describe the walls of the only remaining example of 1960s paintwork in the school. Fair enough but don't you agree that it could do with a lick of paint:



The windows in our English classroom are broken, letting freezing cold breezes in and when it's raining, the water just pours in the window but I believe that whoever comes in to check and see if anything needs repaired in the classroom, they always say they're going to fix the windows but they never do. Unfortionately for me, I have to sit be side the windows, working with a draft beside me the whole time! Well I'm glad to say that the windows are now sealed off with some black duck tape! Doesn't quite solve the problem in the long run but no one is bothering to fix them so what else can be done? The only classrooms which I can say don't look old fasioned and horrible are the biology labs, one of the physics labs, the two computing classrooms and one of the History rooms. Now all that needs done- the rest of the school has to be done up like this. Some of the maths classrooms haven't any carpet in them so the floor constantly gets dented by the chairs everytime you sit down. In other classrooms, you're either far to hot or far too cold. Classrooms where the lights turn off everytime you shut the door because of the faulty switch. Buildings which are constantly under maintanance because of the risk of them collapsing. As for the "New" (extension) Block, don't even go there. This must have been the worst piece of architecture around. That reminds me, I was told that when it was first built, the started pumping deisel or something other into the heating system in this block but to everyones shock, it was just getting pumped into the foor and apparantly you can still get the smell on the bottom floor of the building when you walk past. It was build with an inconvenient flat roof. Overall it can be described as a DIRTY WHITE BOX. They even decide to replace the windows now! This is the wrong thing to do as the whole building just needs to be knocked down and rebuilt.. The list just goes on and on and on and where do the new schools get built? Places that need them a lot less than we do and surprisingly enough, all of them around the Inverness area. For all the money it would take to rebuild one building at Wick High School, they go and waste loads of money rebuilding a whole school with the likes of Millburn Academy, Dingwall Academy... etc. Wick is part of the Highlands aswell! Not just Inverness. Get the people in charge up here and sort the place out once and for all. There's no doubt that if anything was going to be done, it would be well after the time that I leave school. I can still see the same place being there in 5 years time. Probably falling to pieces with buildings nearly collapsing but nevermind, lets just shove some scaffolding up to make it look like we're doing something.

Anyway... that's what I think. Fortionately, we now have a schools campaign group at Highland Youth Voice so I'll have a word with them and get them to talk to the top people.

Cheerio! :P

[rainbow]

The Parents Forum is very much aware of the problems, to such an extent that they are in the process of compiling a presentation to give to councillors, MP's, MSP's and Head of Education, Leisure and Culture (or whatever the title is). They are campaigning to replace the school - certainly in my opinion a total renovation will be as costly as a replacement.
Why should our children have to be educated in the conditions they have at present, they are being treated as 2nd class citizens, and it is totally unfair that Inverness gets the new schools and not the peripheral areas. The school roll is not falling as they expected, and I think the higher authorities thought this would be the case so why waste money on Wick High when it will gradually be run down due to lack of pupils.
Keep an eye on the papers, as dependent on how the meetings go between the authorites and the Forum, then parent/locals pressure may be needed.

[BRIE]

my children are always complaining about how cold the school is & how many broken windows there are.
My child had a nasty accident a while ago thanks to a faulty door! i got a call from school to say he'd had a nasty bump to his head due to the door coming loose.

[Venture]

rfr10 - You have some very valid points there. The gym hasn't been painted since the 60's and is a disgrace. Decoration throughout the school consists mainly of peeling paint. The New Block has major problems. One of them being temperature control. Some of the classrooms have air conditioning but the pipes from this heats up the other classrooms. Temperaures in the Art Dept have been recorded at 100 degrees. Fans in the windows let in draughts when the wind is in a particular direction and have to be stuffed with towels. Tiles are also missing from many parts of the ceilings inside. The windows are so bad they cant be opened or shut. Water pours in from the flat roof to the learning support section when it is raining. New windows are being installed but there are still many other problems. There are also concerns at the asbestos present in the New Block now that windows are being replaced. Temperatures for the heating throughout the school are controlled by Inverness and not the school staff. The temperature in the swimming pool area is controlled in London.

It would seem that the pupils just put up with it and the majority of parents are not aware of how bad the situation is. Parents nights are usually conducted in the Crush Hall, Main Hall and close by areas so parents aren't aware of the conditions in the rest of the school. They have to be seen to be believed.

[Smithy]

Over the years Councillors / MP's / Education Authority staff have been sent letters, photos, and some of them have been to the school and seen the state of the buildings fabric / furnishings. To date not a lot has been done.

In the past there have been numerous meetings regarding the building re improvements but not a lot of action from the one's that hold the purse strings.

[wee sparkle]

I am in my 5th year at Wick High School, and i must say it probably isnt the most aesthetically pleasing place to work in.

But having said that, most of the labs have been revamped, with one or two left to do, and the hall was completely repainted with new carpets. Lots of money has been spent on equiping the school with SMART boards and projectors, so money is being spent on the pupils. The new block is getting all new windows aswel. I am in the pupil council, and at the last meeting lots of issues were discussed related to revamping certain parts of the school, so the heads know the pupils opinion.

The CCTV in the school is also helping because anything that is done up in the school usually ends up getting ruined by a few pupils. The cameras are stopping that because people have been caught by them. So efforts are being made to improve the school, its just as always money comes into it.

A few pupils in my year have come up with some good ideas to raise money for the school which we're putting forward to the Heads of school. So we'll see how it goes....

xx

[Venture]

Hi wee sparkle - as I mentioned before the redecoration of the hall, carpets, whiteboards and IT were all bought with money from the Barbara George Trust and not supplied by the Education Authority. The CCTV was but it was installed to bring Wick High School into line with other schools.

I agree some of the areas are acceptable but there are underlying structural problems which have been present for years and never dealt with. The situation has gone from bad to worse.

As to the New Block some of the labs have been done up but the others still have the original benches from when it was built in the 60's. I agree with you that the windows are now being replaced not before time but what about the roof which leaks every time it rains and buckets have to be used. The state of and lack of toilets. Pupils cant drink the water in the school because of its colour and content and there are no additional water facilities other than buying it. There is a lack of social areas for pupils and 6th year have no common room or place to study apart from the Crush Hall which they have to share with the rest of the school.

I commend you on the idea of the pupils raising money for the school but at the end of the day the Local Authority Education Department are solely responsible for the upkeep of the school. It is your right to be taught in decent surroundings.