Another Swiss Blog -- schools this time

Hi, I'm back.
Ok, all you gals and guys abroad, since you insist, yes I will take you on a little tour of school buildings. But please note that this is very much a work in progress, and early pictures were not taken with architectural interests in mind. In fact, sometimes the buildings themselves were not what really mattered to this here photographer. But see for yourselves.
Let me start with one of the oldest specimens. This little school was built in 1859/60; in 1873 the upper floor and the clock turret were added. Ever since, it has been known as the «Tuermlischulhaus» («Tuermli»= turret). It was here that coeducation was introduced to Bernese schools.
Outside the western entrance, the foundain proclaims its age (1870).
The playground used to look dismal until a few interesting features were introduced about five years ago, once the renovation work on the school was completed:
I rather like the next one, with its red window frames, verdigris dormer windows and eaves. Currently used as a training school for secondary school teachers (it's part of the Institute of Pedagogy of the University of Bern), it was built in the 1930s when the neighbourhood was going through a spurt of growth, fields were built over and the city limits pushed north. The local «Volkshochschule» (or Academy of Adult Education) use classrooms in the evenings, too, and I used to be one of the teachers.
The above is a photo I took on a weekend in the autumn of 2005, well, mid-December, actually. The valiant little sycamore was just stunning in the early afternoon sun.
And this is what things looked like eight days later, Dec. 26: the golden glory is gone, the school has taken on a chill aspect. This was holiday time, but someone's working -- or left the lights on. Do teachers never stop?
That's better, don't you think? May evening, with the setting sun warming a façade that looks pretty drab on a grey day.
Some more recent photos of the same school, from different angles, starting with the main access to the north-east, taking you around the north-east end to the south-east facade with its huge windows.
This is the south-west entrance - very plain, very elegant -- and very hot behind that glass on a summer afternoon!
Between this chunky, yet graceful school and the «old» school, some gormless sixties architect inserted an eyesore of a pavilion (lack of funding is no excuse for poor architecture).
Several years ago, teachers and their kids painted their version of the four seasons on the lower frieze of the façade to brighten up the dismal aspect. It was a constructive way of muscling out the otherwise ubiquitous graffiti:
The gabled little school next door is probably the oldest in my series. It was built in 1833 and renovated in 1905. It started out as a primary school for the population living along the little stream downhill and westward. Until about twenty years ago it served as the training primary school for the trainee teachers from the building in the previous pix, and is now part of the Institute of Pedagogy of the local university.
And this is part of the playground between the «new» and old schools:
On a cold and foggy day early in 2006, the old school looked like this:
Oh yes, it was a cold and foggy afternoon that day -- mid-January 06, to be precise. But we have proper winters, too, and that's what the school looks like then (March 04):
The air ambulance homing in on the nearby hospital, and the weather always seem to be coming in over those spires, which may serve as lightning rods (the next photos were taken in July and Oct. 04):
And on a good day in spring or fall (or in a bigger picture) you can see several hot-air balloons floating in (March 03):
Occasionally, as in May 06, a rainbow spans the two schools:
Can you see the rainbow in the middle one?
More to come -- I hope! Thanks for coming back.