Portable classroom

{{Short description|Type of classroom}}

{{More citations needed|date=February 2015}}

File:Portable classroom.JPG in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada]]

File:Portable classroom building at Rock Creek Elementary School - Washington County, Oregon.jpg at an elementary school in Washington County, Oregon, U.S.]]

File:Portables at peirre trudeau.JPG in Markham, Ontario, Canada]]

File:RHSPortable.jpg 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.{{cite web |url= http://www.minedu.govt.nz/NZEducation/EducationPolicies/Schools/PropertyToolBox/StateSchools/Funding/RelocatableBuildings.aspx |title= Relocatable buildings |publisher= New Zealand Ministry of Education |access-date= 26 February 2014}} 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. 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|date=May 2023}}

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".{{cite web|url=http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/wirrals-last-temporary-post-war-horsa-3366638|title=Wirral's last 'temporary' post-war Horsa school hut to be bulldozed to allow Overchurch Infants revamp|first=Ben|last=Turner|date=1 August 2011|access-date=24 July 2018}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J4o7AwAAQBAJ&q=who+provided+horsa+huts&pg=PT62|title=The Best Days of Our Lives: School Life in Post-War Britain|first=Simon|last=Webb|date=1 February 2013|publisher=History Press|isbn=9780752489360|access-date=24 July 2018|via=Google Books}} Others in the UK are often known as 'Pratten huts' after the Pratten company that supplied many of them after World War II.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/domesday/dblock/GB-320000-135000/page/3|title=Domesday Reloaded: Spaxton V. C. Primary School|access-date=24 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170522221309/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/domesday/dblock/GB-320000-135000/page/3|archive-date=2017-05-22|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web |website=Wiltshire Community History |title=Gomeldon Primary School, Idmiston |url=https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/School/Details/1030 |publisher=Wiltshire Council |access-date=19 May 2023}}{{cite web|url=http://www.educationandtraining.org.uk/schools/school/pratten-hut-st-dunstan-school/|title=Pratten Hut – St Dunstan School, Calne, Wiltshire|website=www.educationandtraining.org.uk|access-date=24 July 2018}}{{cite web|url=http://www.findmyschool.co.uk/schooldetails.aspx?id=79918|title=School website for The Rainbow Pre-School Learning Centre Warminster|website=www.findmyschool.co.uk|access-date=24 July 2018}}