Preparing Your Classroom for the New School Year
As the end of term approaches, many teachers turn their attention to preparing their classrooms for the next school year.
The End of The Year
Towards the end of July, your classroom may resemble a warzone, crammed with unsteady piles of books, tatty displays and boxes of unwieldy resources that you're never likely to use again. With a spring in your step and a head full of good intentions, you set about making your room that efficient and inspiring learning environment that it was back in September, but before you jump on that desk to tear down January's "SuperStar of the Month" display, just think - will your enthusiasm make you forget the basic health and safety rules? No one wants to spend all summer with a leg or two in plaster...
Staying Safe
You've carefully selected dozens of inspirational quotes, printed them out in Comic Sans and stuck them lovingly onto contrasting cards. You've got 100km of sugar paper and more crinkly cardboard edging than you can safely carry, so you're ready to go. The temptation may be to clamber onto the nearest desk with your staple gun and get busy, but you could be putting yourself in real danger if you do. The minute you do anything above ground level, you need to consider the guidelines for working at height. Working at height is defined as "where a person could fall a distance liable to cause personal injury'. Off your desk, for example.
Displays
Before you start your classroom renovations, make sure:
- You have the appropriate equipment you need
- Avoid using stools, chairs and desks and use an 'elephant-foot' step stool or stepladder
- Make sure you place it on a firm surface
- Check the ladder first - the last thing you want to happen is for it to collapse with you and Year 8's hand-drawn periodic table on it - and tie your shoelaces before you use it
- Remove and dispose of any staples safely and use a staple remover
- Have you been provided with guidance on securing pieces of work to walls/ceilings that may contain asbestos?
- Be aware of where you are in the classroom. If you're working by a door, make sure no one will open it, knocking you over in the process
- While you've got the staple gun in your hand, make sure that the fire alarm procedure and assembly points are pinned up somewhere prominent
Disposing of Classwork
Before you hire the skip to get rid of Year 11's scale models of the seven wonders of the ancient world, make sure that you don't have to hang on to them for a specified period of time. Exam boards have their own guidelines for storing coursework in case students contest their exam grades, so make sure you are authorised to discard something. It's also worth thinking about GDPR when you're getting rid of paperwork. Is any of it sensitive? You may need to get it shredded or removed in a controlled manner. If in doubt, check.
Personal Safety
If something is too big and heavy for you to move alone, find a "volunteer" to help you. If you do find yourself working in a quiet part of the school, especially if you've come in during the holidays, make sure that you tell the reception or office staff what time you arrived, where you are and let them know when you leave. You probably don't want to spend August locked in your classroom...
You can keep your classroom safety in check by using our Handsam Quick Guide document GM17 Classroom Safety Audit.
Computers
Does your computer make you go cross-eyed when you use it? You may need to rethink about a few things, in that case:
- Is the display adjustable, clear and glare-free?
- Does the screen swivel and tilt?
- Are the keyboard and mouse suitable for purpose?
- Do you need a support for your forearm and wrist while you work?
- Is the top of the screen at your eye level?
- Is your chair adjustable? If you're having to sit on a chair you've borrowed from a Year 1 class, you may be doing yourself some damage
The General Data Protection Regulations
"What's GDPR got to do with my lovely displays?" Quite a lot, as it happens:
- If you have photographs of students who have left the school, do you have their consent for you to use their images?;
- If a piece of work has to be named, use the first name only;
- The "good" news is that you don't need consent to display student's names on exam timetables. They'll thank you for that; and
- It's also good practice to store exercise books in a cupboard.
For more information on GDPR, please see DA18 A Guide to the General Data Protection Regulation. located in the Handsam Quick Guide Library.
Storage
Are you familiar with manual handling techniques? If you're removing ten classes worth of exercise books and test papers out of your room, you're going to be handling a lot of weight. Make sure you do it safely.
Moving Around
Now might be a good time to secure that trailing whiteboard lead that's been on the floor since Christmas. Have a word with your maintenance or facilities staff about safely and securely getting any potential trip hazards sorted.
Is there anything on the floor that you could store safely elsewhere? Do you really still need that massive TV and Betamax video on a rusty trolley in the corner of the room?
Electrical Equipment
While you're spring cleaning, have a look at the state of any appliances in the room. When was the last time anything was PAT (Portable Appliance Testing) tested in the classroom? Is everything in good order?
PAT testing should be done regularly. Class 1 items - kettles, glue guns, etc must be tested annually. Class 2 items - radios, photocopiers, TVs etc, should be tested every two years.
Visually check everything. If it looks a little suspect, get it serviced.
You may be full of excitement about the end of the year and dreaming of six weeks without staff meetings, canteen duty and marking, but before you rush headlong into a blizzard of reorganisation, just have a think about how you're going to do it and don't put yourself at risk.