Caretakers
Maintain and clean residential buildings, schools, offices, holiday camps, caravan parks and associated grounds.
An early start at the school
You are the caretaker of a primary school, responsible for cleaning, small repairs, locking up and keeping the grounds safe. It is 5:20am on a cold morning. The alarm company has rung to say the hall alarm has triggered, and you live in the cottage next to the oval.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
The motion sensor in the hall was triggered at 5:05. I can't see on camera who or what it was. I can dispatch security, but it'll take half an hour. Are you able to check it in the meantime?
Let security check first, then walk the grounds with them
Security finds a window open and a possum inside, now running loose. You walk the building together and find nothing taken. Waiting for help is not weakness, it is the safe way to do the job.
Go in alone and look around, since you know the building best
You find the door ajar and a person inside before security arrives. Nothing happens, but you are alone and shaken. Your job is to look after the school, not to confront someone by yourself.
Wait for security and watch from the cottage window
You stay safe and security arrives, but you don't see the other door, and it turns out someone slipped out of it earlier. Watching from a safe place is good, and a quick phone call to the principal would help too.
G'day. I'm here about the air conditioning. They sent me out to fix the unit in the staffroom. Can you let me in? I've got a lot of jobs today and I'd like to start straight away.
Let him in, because he looks the part and has a van with a logo
He turns out to be at the wrong school, but he has walked past the office and into the staffroom. The front office is upset that nobody checked. Anyone can wear a shirt with a logo.
Ask him to wait at the office, and check his booking with the principal
Ms Ibrahim checks the booking and finds he is expected on Thursday. He is sent to wait at the office and signed in properly. Checking is polite, not rude.
Tell him to come back later and shut the gate
He leaves, but if the booking was real, the school has lost a day. A quick call to confirm would have taken a minute.
The assembly starts at 9 and the hall roof is dripping near the stage. It's a small drip but it's right where the kids will sit. Can you sort it before then? I'm sure it's not a big thing.
Put a bucket under the drip and carry on with the assembly set-up
The drip becomes a stream when the rain gets heavier, and the assembly is moved to the library. A bucket is a patch, and a leaking roof is a bigger problem.
Tell Mr Chen to hold the assembly outside, since the hall isn't safe
The assembly is moved and the children are fine, but it is cold and wet outside, and the move was a bigger change than the drip needed. Judging the size of a problem matters.
Check where it comes from and tell the principal what you found
You find a loose roof sheet and block off the area. Ms Ibrahim moves the seating. The roof is repaired that afternoon. Checking the cause meant nobody sat under a leak.
How it went
The assembly goes ahead in the library, the gate is locked and the alarm is silent. Caretaking is quiet, practical and full of small decisions made alone, and the school depends on you noticing what others miss. Could you find satisfaction in looking after a place so others can use it?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: The gate that would not latch
A fictional case set in a primary school and its grounds, with a hall, a playground and a caretaker's cottage on the edge of the oval.
The situation
Kofi was the caretaker at a primary school. On a Monday before sunrise he made his usual walk around the grounds and found that the gate to the playground was hanging slightly open, with a bent latch. A sports club had used the oval on Sunday and might have forced it. The first children were due in under two hours, and the school's maintenance person could not come until the afternoon.
What they did
Kofi checked the area for anything that did not belong, then secured the gate with a temporary lock and put up a sign. He rang the principal, Ms Ibrahim, to tell her what he had found, and she arranged for the front office to alert the teachers on duty. He wrote the details in the incident book, took photos and organised for the latch to be replaced that afternoon.
How it turned out
The playground was safe for the children, and the temporary lock held. The sports club apologised and paid for a new latch. Ms Ibrahim added a gate check to the Monday morning list, and Kofi still walks the same route before anyone else arrives.
What would you do?
- Why might it be important to tell the principal even if you've fixed it temporarily?
- What would you do if you found something broken and nobody could help for hours?
- How does a regular walk around help you notice small changes?