Portacabins

[80sChav]

Though these aree sort of related to school (and not), who else can recall having these either at School or College and the strange fusty smell the invariably had - but also how cool they could be made into/became when done out right!!

80sChav

[Mulletino]

Re: Portacabins

We had one at our Junior school, I remember thinking it was really cool as it had wooden steps up to it! IIRC my teacher in that room was Mrs Huggins and we had a pet gerbil there. A cheap way to extend the school really.

They had a few of them at my senior school which were older and seemed more "permanent".

[staffslad]

Re: Portacabins

We had these at my secondary school. The entrance was in the middle and there was a classroom to each side. I think they had been there since the 60s and were still in use into the 2010s. One was my form room for my last two years at that school.

[Richard1978]

Re: Portacabins

The reception class at my primary school had a mobile classroom like a portacabin.

I remember it had the only full sized toilets for the use of pupils in the school, all the others were those titchy ones.

[staffslad]

Re: Portacabins

I think there were 3 of these things, making 6 classrooms in all, plus a bigger, more solid structure that was kitted out as a Biology lab. The 3 standard ones were just wood with single-glazed windows. I don't think they got too warm in winter. They had electric radiators if I remember correctly.

[Twocky61]

Re: Portacabins

We had a few at high school as extra classrooms without having to add additional buildings

[Richard1978]

Re: Portacabins

My secondary school had a few portacabins dotted around the grounds.

When my sister was there she complained one of them stank of BO because the heating was always high making everyone sweat inside.

[big kid]

Re: Portacabins

spent nearly the whole of the third year using these at secondary school.

[Twocky61]

Re: Portacabins

Then there are porta loo's lol

[George 1978]

Re: Portacabins

Due to the increase of the number of school pupils at my Infant school, there was already one portable classroom (Class 5) when I started there to add to existing four classrooms in the main building, and another one was added while I was there (Class 6), and I was one of the first pupils to use it as my class moved into it! Ten years later they were gone and were replaced by an extension to the main building (which I saw at a reunion there a few years ago).

[Zincubus]

Re: Portacabins

We had some at our high school a few years ago ..two blocks of three porta cabins fixed together .
They had aircon but fixed windows and the coded door locks failed rather regularly.... this bothered me as were effectively trapped for a while ( 40 minutes on one occasion ) .
I had them down as fire [emoji91] hazards not helped by fact that all the waste paper used to blow underneath and get trapped there .


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[CrystalBall]

Re: Portacabins

I taught in primary schools for 20 years and these temporary classrooms are fine if you are a kid but a pain for the teacher - cramped, noisy, baking hot in summer, freezing cold in winter, condensation/ventilation issues, moving children to and from the main building etc. Not only that but they are quite an inefficient solution (siting/hiring a temporary classroom costs a lot and they are expensive to heat) and there are also security/safety issues associated with being outside the main building. Unfortunately these classrooms often start out as temporary but end up being on site for years.

[George 1978]

Re: Portacabins

I was thinking about the Grange Hill episodes from 1986 just after the fire storyline, and the arrival of portable classrooms which disappeared as soon as the following series had started.

I have to admit that despite the disadvantages that they have which have already been mentioned on this thread, I have always thought that they were good because you didn't have to put up with noise from neighbouring classrooms, and that it was separate from other rooms. But I do think that it is like comparing a caravan with a home in many ways.