Portable classroom

A portable classroom at Rockcliffe Park Public School in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
A portable classroom with wheelchair ramp at an elementary school in Washington County, Oregon, U.S.
Portable classrooms at Pierre Elliott Trudeau High School in Markham, Ontario, Canada
A four-room portable classroom at Reynolds High School in Troutdale, Oregon, U.S.

A portable classroom (also known as a demountable or relocatable classroom), is a type of portable building installed at a school to temporarily and quickly provide additional classroom space where there is a shortage of capacity.[1] They are designed so they may be removed once the capacity situation abates, whether by a permanent addition to the school, another school being opened in the area, or a reduction in student population.[1] Such buildings would be installed much like a mobile home, with utilities often being attached to a main building to provide light and heat for the room. Portable classrooms may also be used if permanent classrooms are uninhabitable, such as after a fire or during a major refurbishment.

Sometimes, the portable classrooms are meant to be long-lasting and are built as a "portapack", which combines a series of portables and connects them with a hallway.[citation needed]

Portable classrooms are colloquially known as bungalows, slum classes, t-shacks, trailers, terrapins, huts, t-buildings, portables, mobiles, or relocatables. In the UK, those built in 1945–1950 were known as HORSA huts after the name of the Government's post-war building programme, "Hutting Operation for the Raising of the School-leaving Age".[2][3] Others in the UK are often known as 'Pratten huts' after the Pratten company that supplied many of them after World War II.[4][5][6][7]

  1. ^ a b "Relocatable buildings". New Zealand Ministry of Education. Retrieved 26 February 2014.
  2. ^ Turner, Ben (1 August 2011). "Wirral's last 'temporary' post-war Horsa school hut to be bulldozed to allow Overchurch Infants revamp". Retrieved 24 July 2018.
  3. ^ Webb, Simon (1 February 2013). The Best Days of Our Lives: School Life in Post-War Britain. History Press. ISBN 9780752489360. Retrieved 24 July 2018 – via Google Books.
  4. ^ "Domesday Reloaded: Spaxton V. C. Primary School". Archived from the original on 2017-05-22. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
  5. ^ "Gomeldon Primary School, Idmiston". Wiltshire Community History. Wiltshire Council. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
  6. ^ "Pratten Hut – St Dunstan School, Calne, Wiltshire". www.educationandtraining.org.uk. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
  7. ^ "School website for The Rainbow Pre-School Learning Centre Warminster". www.findmyschool.co.uk. Retrieved 24 July 2018.