This was quite a special explore for me, as contrary to the usual sites with no personal connection Airyhall does come with some sentimental attachment to me, Airyhall being where I went to primary school for five years of my life.
Last year the council put into motion plans for rebuilding Airyhall, with the school shutting for good at the end of the summer term. In the meantime all the current pupils have been moved into a temporary extension of the local infant school (namely Braeside infant school) while Airyhall is flattened and rebuilt, then when the new Airyhall is ready it will consolidate both schools into the one building.
Why is it still standing over six months after being shut? shortly before work was due to begin they found a small colony of bats roosting in the building, so work was halted until the bats could be moved elsewhere, work only recently starting up again.
The school was split into two main sections, a block containing the classrooms for the younger pupils at the top of the site, and another block of classrooms at the bottom of the site for the older pupils, these were connected in the middle by the games/assembly hall and with the offices, staffroom and canteen/kitchens.
The senior block is the only section currently being stripped, so while being denying access to that (pretty fairly really) the builders were happy enough for me to explore the rest of the buildings as I liked.
First to the junior classrooms.
As you can see the classrooms have been stripped of almost everything, but with odd reminders of the classes left behind here and there.
Heading back over to the main section of the school you walk down a long glass corridor. When I was a pupil this was shelved down one side, which were full of the books used to teach you to read - you were given a story to read at home, and then everyone read it together in your groups at school the next day.
his leads into the games hall, the curtains at the end covering the stage (though iirc rarely used, generally assemblies and so on were just held on the gym floor). Underneath the stage there was storage that held all the equipment and other bits needed for things like coffee mornings and the activity club held for a couple of weeks each summer.
Up behind the stage contained the cafeteria and kitchens, linking through to the offices and staffroom.
One of the oddest bits was getting to wander through the offices and staffroom, when you were at school those were the places nobody ever got to see, so it is quite surreal to finally get to have a look in ten years after I left Airyhall for the academy, and even more so with the school in its current condition.
One of the other 'secret' bits I finally got to visit was the boiler room, hidden down underneath the kitchens. Sadly after finding the massive boiler room in Ladysbridge hospital this maybe isn't as impressive to me as it could have been, but fun to get to look about none the less.
And to finish off, a poster from the final assembly. It was a tradition that the primary sevens (the final year of primary school for those of you not used to the Scottish system) put on an assembly at the end of the year for the rest of the school, usually in the form of a silly play or sketches or whatnot - my year re-enacted our own version of grease, quiffs, dodgy singing and the dubious 'getting everyone to do the same thing' approach to dancing, fantastic.
I do hope this has been of some interest to everyone. I guess it probably means a lot more to me being able to remember being a pupil and seeing everything when it was still full of kids. I had hoped I would manage to get in for a final look round before it gets demolished, and am very happy to say that was a mission accomplished.
Cheers for reading.