Fire at school

Press, 19 March 1984, Page 1

Fire at school

School will start late today for Standards 1,2, and 3 pupils at Richmond School in Pavitt Street, after fire badly damaged their classrooms yesterday. The principal of the school, Miss B. J. Moffatt, said the pupils would be asked to stay at home until 1 p.m. Staff would need the morning to prepare temporary classrooms. Other pupils should start school at the usual time. The fire started in a resource room at the centre of three classrooms in an open-plan block about 2.40 p.m.

Fire Service safety officers inspected the building but the cause of the fire is not thought to be suspicious. Mrs Jenny Thompson, the teacher in charge of the open-plan block, said she bad “lost everything” of her nine years of teaching. She had spent hours each year making games, activities, and teaching aids, which had not been supplied by the Canterbury Education Board,-for her pupils. Personal items, including several guitars, were destroyed by the blaze, but these were secondary when compared with the facilities for the children she had worked to provide, said Mrs Thompson. Teachers and parents yesterday helped to salvage what few books and records they could. Most paper not burned bad been damaged by smoke or water.

Desks and chairs were also damaged. Charred children’s pictures lined the walls that had not been destroyed.

Miss Moffatt said the school hall, library, and the Education Board’s science block might be used to house the three classes until their rooms were repaired.