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Original poster

The school is on fire!!

144 replies

schoolonfire · 25/08/2019 21:14

Changed name as v outing, but dds high school has been on fire since 4.30 and is still spreading.

We’ve had a text to say the school will be shut tomorrow (obviously) but it’s looks so bad I think they’re going to lose the school altogether.

Has anyone any experience of what will happen to the students in this awful scenario? Dd has just started first year (Scotland). Just really pray nobody was hurt, so awful, can actually see the flames for miles.

OP posts:
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QOD · 26/08/2019 06:04

My dds primary school burned to the ground during the school day ... they were trapped on the field when the whole thing eventually collapsed
Took 2 full years to demolish and re build, they went to school at a local attraction for a week and then decamped to an empty old school for the duration
It was important to keep them together
Really affected dd mentally

weareWM · 26/08/2019 06:32

Another WM parent here. I can't even begin to get my head around how they accommodate all those kids, I guess priority has to go to seniors. It's a strong community, we tried hard to fight catchment changes and we'll be doing whatever we can to support our pupils and staff.

Cherryblossomtrees · 26/08/2019 07:03

I will be so annoyed if it has been a bin fire. That has been an ongoing problem in this area for ages - my own bin was stolen and set on fire a few months ago on the school site next to me (I'm close to WM but right next to a primary school). The police were nice about it BUT I had phoned them twice beforehand to report it and let them know I could hear the teenagers and they were about to do it. The fire engines arrived long after it was alight... Thankfully no damage to that school that time, but clearly the kids enjoyed it and completely got away with it Hmm

Cherryblossomtrees · 26/08/2019 07:04

I really feel for all the WM kids, parents and staff this morning btw. For most people school is a special and important place and it's horrible to think of how that's been destroyed.

Boysnme · 26/08/2019 07:19

So sad for all the WM children this morning. My kids are upset by this and they don’t go there (primary age but this is is our catchment high school), it must be so upsetting for WM pupils.

I’ve also heard it was started by a bin fire and agree with PP that it’s a problem in the area.

The poor staff this morning whilst they sort out first the short term plan and then the longer one.

Thoughts also go to the emergency staff who have worked like crazy to contain the fire.

Original poster
schoolonfire · 26/08/2019 07:50

It’s just so sad and shocking, thoughts to everyone affected Flowers dd couldn’t sleep last night, I think it finally hit her.
The photographs this morning are harrowing.
I agree with pp about the bins too, wm was one of only a few schools that wasn’t open for the community use throughout the summer holidays (the free lunch scheme the council was running) and I vaguely remember a bin being set on fire in the grounds a few weeks ago too, correct me if I’m wrong.

OP posts:
OtraCosaMariposa · 26/08/2019 07:56

Reporting on the news this morning, the damage seems extensive. Firefighters still there this morning. Closed all day.

In previous situations where this has happened they try to squeeze kids into other nearby schools, bussing them if needed. Portacabins in the playground if bits can still be used.

OtraCosaMariposa · 26/08/2019 08:01

Also I meant to add that they will prioritise accommodating the S4, S5 and S6 pupils who are working towards Nat5s and Highers first. S1 is at the bottom of the pecking order, the Council will sort something out but it might take a while.

Knitwit99 · 26/08/2019 08:05

This was my dh's school and he's quite upset this morning. He loved his school days.
I am sad for the kids obviously but this must be a nightmare for teachers and the council. Imagine trying to sort this one out. And for parents too, if you feel you can't go to work and leave your 11 or 12 yr old alone all day every day.

Do you think councils have a dusty contingency plan stuffed in a drawer somewhere for this sort of emergency? Surely they must do.

OtraCosaMariposa · 26/08/2019 08:10

I'm sure they must have. But as others have said a senior school is so much more complex to move. When there were issues with building safety in Edinburgh it was much more straightforward for primary kids as you can move p1 to Y school, P2 to Z school and so on. Not so for secondary school as easily.

I'm sure they're working on it this morning. Agree also about bin fires, we're not in Fife but have exactly the same issue here with little neds setting dumpsters on fire at the weekend. We live very near a primary school and have called the police about three times over the summer about fire raising.

FairfaxAikman · 26/08/2019 08:18

We had fires set at two schools in Perth within days of each other.

I don't think even the wildest of my school peers would have dared do such a thing, so what's changed?

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 26/08/2019 08:18

Is the fire out yet?

It's not just buildings... It's all the work and resources it takes teachers years to accumulate.

ShakeItOffShakeItOff · 26/08/2019 08:32

Another local, name changed. Smoke last night was immense. Kept all our windows shut. These schools are so oversubscribed it's been a real source of angst for parents over the past few years as this area has thousands and thousands of new builds filled with children that the council hasn't planned schools for, so Woodmill is really needed.

It's horrific. So many pictures circulating online but this is from a local site this morning.

I don't have children there but it is our catchment school and friends who work there and have children there are very upset.

The school is on fire!!
The school is on fire!!
ShakeItOffShakeItOff · 26/08/2019 08:35

@Cherryblossomtrees Primary school that starts with a D by any chance?

Bin fires seem to be all the rage just now Angry Really hoping local gossip is wrong and that it's not been teenagers but I doubt that.

ShakeItOffShakeItOff · 26/08/2019 08:38

@fifefires that school had a second fire that also resorted to portacabins years later if I've got the right place?

64sNewName · 26/08/2019 08:46

God, those photos. I feel horrified for all of you with connections to the school Sad

LollipopViolet · 26/08/2019 09:20

Oh gosh those photos are shocking :(

I really feel for those affected and hope something gets sorted ASAP.

Not the same but we were kept off an extra week one Easter as asbestos was found in our secondary and it had to be removed. We got taken to a local attraction and used their education room for a couple of revision days as it was during year 10 for me.

frasersmummy · 26/08/2019 11:07

They've arrested a 14 year old for it

Disgruntled pupil?
Shocking, 😲

sanityisamyth · 26/08/2019 11:23

Police arrest 14-year-old over Woodmill High School fire www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-49472600

EleanorReally · 26/08/2019 11:31

Probably just a bored 14 year old, out to impress his mates.

PancakeAndKeith · 26/08/2019 11:38

What I find worrying is how quickly the fire spread and how long it took to put out.
Granted it would have had much more time to take hold before it was found but if that had been during a school day......

dementedma · 26/08/2019 11:44

14 year old handed in by his parents and charged. Woodmill is a very old building, as is its neighbour over the road St Columba's. I went to St Cs back in the 70s and Woodmill was looking shabby even then. The fire is dreadful and very upsetting for all, but hopefully it will speed up a new build. Its time those two schools were merged and the sectarianism laid to rest. I remember many a mass brawl in the street between Woodmill and St C pupils. Time for a new start.

Gingerkittykat · 26/08/2019 12:09

I also remember the brawls between WHS and St C, in the 90s there was a planned fight where one child was knocked unconscious and they finally started giving us different lunchtimes.

The shared campus for Catholic and non denominational school works well for the primary schools, hope it would be the same for high schools.

The bin fires are a big thing all over right now but seem to be a night time thing so waiting for an official explanation before speculating too much.

The school is on fire!!
64sNewName · 26/08/2019 12:28

Been thinking about this a lot this morning. Fourteen is so young, and the scale of what this child has done will be incomprehensible to him right now. But the ripples potentially go so far through the community: affecting countless people’s stress levels, health, incomes, education. The long-term effects of all that burning asbestos - who knows what those might be?

It seems like a life-ruining, or at least life-changing event for his family and potentially for so many others. And of course people could have been injured or killed fighting the fire.

I am trying to imagine how I’d feel if my son (currently slightly younger) had done this, and this was the result. I can’t even comprehend how bad that must feel.

Don’t know why it’s preying on my mind - just fear, I guess. Fear/horror at how easily young people can fuck up in awful, awful ways. I really feel for everyone involved.

Sad
Kuponut · 26/08/2019 12:35

We have a fairly detailed policy for if anything like this happens (albeit were a small primary) - from where all our pupil data is backed up to offsite so none of it is lost, to locations wed use to hold classes in while things are being resolved (basically lots of church halls and partner school halls etc).

Apologies for bad grammar - the apostrophe key on my iPad isnt working.