Panic stations!

Last week we got the call all schools dread - it's inspection time again. Usually this is the cue for science teachers to go mad ordering all manner of complicated experiments they've never tried before in an attempt to impress the inspectors and be judged 'outstanding'. Inevitably all this achieves is a huge amount of extra work for the technicians and the inspector probably never came to the lesson anyway.


This inspection is slightly different and the panic is coming from a different side.


As a boarding school we are not only judged on the education that we provide, but also on how well we care for the students and this current inspection is an interim one focussing on boarding and welfare. For the teachers there is very little impact, but senior management have been bombarding us with emails about the various welfare and H&S policies and wanting to make sure that we all know the official line on anything an inspector may want to talk about.


The Health and Safety manager had warned that they would be very interested in seeing the science facilities and checking all our H&S paperwork, so we made sure we were all prepared before he brought one of the inspectors round yesterday afternoon. What an anti-climax! The guy asked me where we keep the radioactive sources and that was it.


Don't know why everyone gets so worked up.

It's raining!

Well, of course it is. It's October and that's what the weather does lately - rain. This rain, however, is slightly different because it's not in the usual place (outside) but is instead happening in lab 3.

We are on the ground floor of the science block, and directly above us is the chemistry department. They seem to have issues with the sink traps in one of their labs which become dislodged when the kids kick or rest their feet on them. If no one notices that the trap has become dislodged then every time water (or anything else) is poured down the sink it comes through the ceiling into the lab below.

3 times so far this term we've had this problem and it's getting beyond a joke. It's not so bad when it's just water. The clearing up is a nuisance, but not major. What worries me is that sooner or later it won't just be water and someone could get chemicals in their eyes. Alternatively the ceiling might collapse. Either way, not good.

We keep reporting the issue, but I'm not holding my breath that anything will happen.

Health and Safety gone mad!

Over the Easter holidays, our H&S manager decided to take a look at our little observatory.

We don't have a fancy automatic roof (although we're trying to get the funding for one), so when we want to use the telescope one of the teachers ahs to climb up an external ladder onto the roof and open the dome.
H&S decided that this was too dangerous and had a safety rail fitted.

So what's the problem? In theory, nothing. I'm all in favour of safety and would never want to see any of my colleagues get hurt if it can be prevented. The problem with this particular safety rail, however, is that no one thought to ask anyone involved in Astronomy before it was installed. We got back after the Easter break and found a rail which blocks the view through the telescope! I suppose it does fulfill its purpose - no one will fall because the observatory was rendered utterly useless.

Thankfully after a number of testy e-mails a compromise has been reached and we will be getting a much smaller rail. If only they'd just consulted us in the first place!

Inspection - Day 2

We're fully in to the inspection now, and the teachers are getting noticably more stressed!

The H&S inspector yesterday seemed quite happy, which was a good start. He was particularly interested in seeing the radioactivity store and then chatted to me a bit about my science background. He was quite a sweetie really - fairly old with a huge shock of hair growing out of each nostril! I managed not to stare too much (I hope!)

Two of my teachers have been observed this morning. It mostly went ok, except that water started dripping from the ceiling in Lab 3 onto the kids while the inspector was in the room! That often happens when chemistry have their sinks in use upstairs unfortunately. I've put an urgent note in to maintenance, so with any luck it'll be sorted before any more inspectors show up.

Inspection - Day 1

All quiet on the western front - so far!

It snowed over the weekend, so everyone was a bit worried as to whether we would all make it to work today, but thankfully the roads aren't too bad and we all made it in 1 piece.
This morning we're expecting a Health and Safety inspection consisting of 2 inspectors, the H&S manager and the Estates Bursar. I spent some time last week making sure all my paperwork is fully up to date (especially the radioactive sources file) and I'm wearing my white coat so I at least look professional.

Fingers crossed!