Springvale Elementary School

 is a bombed-out elementary school in Fallout 3. It is now used as a base of operations by a 10-man group of raiders. is easily found by following the road from Vault 101 a few miles NE through Springvale until you see the giant school sign that reads "Springvale Elementary". The raiders there were raiding caravans, but switched tracks after a botched raid on Megaton. They then attempted to dig a tunnel to break into and pillage Vault 101, but their plans were foiled by a giant ant nest.

There are quite a few custom weapon components scattered on the premises, as well as some minor loot. There are three floors, and two main locked doors with keys on the Raiders: one to the library (top floor), and one to the tunnel (basement). The leader of the Raiders holds the key to the tunnel, and is found on the top floor with his or her dog. The Library Key may be found on a Raider directly adjacent to that door, which may be open already.

There is a small fenced area behind the building containing several radioactive waste barrels (max 8 rads/sec). Picking the very easy lock on the gate gives access to a Hunting Rifle and a First Aid Box. They may be difficult to see, but are directly in front of the gate. On the top of one of the barrels lies a Rad Away.

The Tunnel
Located behind a very hard locked door is the tunnel the group were using to try and break into Vault 101. The Raider leader possesses this key. As her Terminal records show, the diggers inadvertently found a Giant Ant nest, the inhabitants of which soon ate most of the workers.

The entrance to the tunnel is not marked on the local map of the lower level, but is on the east side of the basement. The tunnel itself is full of ants. There are two dead Wastelanders at the end of the main tunnel near the main clutch of eggs. If approached, about four or five ants will spawn from two small tunnels; one at 12 o'clock, and one at 5 o'clock.

Ruined Building
Walk behind the school and head in a northeast direction. You will come across a derelict building on the water. If you have done the The Waters of Life quest then there will be an Enclave base set up of with at least two soldiers and an officer. They seem to have been doing research as their terminal reports mainly on Mirelurks and Radroaches. If you go to the building in the center there is a crater which seems to glow and gives off at least 3 rads per second, there is nothing notable here apart from two Rad Away and around 5 bowls of noodles.

I approached this building at 8AM and the 2 enclave soldiers were in front of the officer doing pushups!! Also, the enclave soldiers were not wearing power armor helmets to go with their enclave power armor.

Notable Loot

 * Assault Rifle - in the tunnel by the giant ant nest. There are two dead Wastelanders and dozens of Ant Egg Clutches adjacent to the rifle.
 * Chinese Army: Special Ops Training Manual - near the rifle in the ant tunnel. Move the Wastelanders bodies if you can not see it or pick it up.
 * Duck and Cover! - to the left of the Raider leader's terminal. The terminal is on the second floor of the school, in a hall with doors to the library.
 * Sheet Music Book - in the south-eastern most room on the first floor (the room opposite the letters ABCDEFG on the wall). The Sheet Music Book is resting on the "backplate" of flipped Teacher's desk.
 * Nuka-Cola Quantum - Top of the cage as you enter school from the main entrance, on the south side of the school: jump down onto the cage from the second floor, or shoot the bottle off of the cage.

Beginner's Strategy
Springvale Elementary is a great first place to start killing. Tactically, a good way to approach this building is by sneaking up to the south side of the school with the main entrance, two wooden doors. It's easy to remain hidden if you approach from the southeast. At the southwest corner of the partially destroyed west wall, beware the two raiders who roam the area. There is also a raider inside the ruins to the north, on the second floor who can snipe you. The exterior and interior have no traps or frag mines, however there is one guard dog inside the school.

If you are decent in unarmed or melee combat, the southwest corner is a good place to sucker a raider into approaching you around the edge of the corner. If you have gathered some frag mines, lay them just at the corner to cripple a raider as he/she comes around the corner. Early in the game at the harder levels, crippling opponents with mines is advantageous. Be careful you do not expose yourself to the raider on the second floor. Alternately, you can use a small arm in V.A.T.S. as they round the corner. A couple shotgun blasts to the head is usually enough to take a raider out in a lower difficulty level. Repeat as necessary. It is possible that two raiders could come at you at once, so be aware.

Once the grounds are clear, the easiest way to dispatch the second floor raider is from a distance. Just south of the school, the land rises to Springvale. This makes for a good sniper blind, as the second floor raider patrols back and forth. If correctly positioned they will never see you. Kill them with a hunting rifle if you have one - it may take several shots. If you only have a pistol, you will have to fight at closer range - you might want to avoid this fight until you have a hunting rifle or an assault rifle. Alternately, you could approach from the north side of the building and lob a few grenades through the upper floor windows to waste the raider.

Once clear, you can enter the blasted-out wall on the west side of the school unmolested. There may be one raider on the exterior of the building roaming what was the basement floor of the school. If you sneak you should not be detected. Avoid descending, and stick to the first floor to the left as you enter the school from the southwest corner where the old school desks still occupy the small area. Having the advantage of height this last exterior raider should be an easy kill. A frag mine or grenade is an elegant kill of this last exterior raider. At this point the exterior of the school is free of raiders - loot at will.

The interior of the school is accessible by three routes: the second floor door, the basement door, and the main school entrance, a double door on the south side. The second floor door is in the exposed interior of the ruins and can be accessed from the collapsed west wall via several flights of stairs. The basement door is accessed by the same collapsed west wall, except immediately descend to the basement floor, hang a left and the basement door is to the right. Due to a collapsed staircase inside, the second floor is only accessible by the collapsed west wall route. I find it quickest to clear the floors from the top down since you will need a key from the raider gang leader who hangs out on the second floor. This key is needed to open a door (locked hard) which gives access to the tunnel the gang is digging. From the second floor you can easily jump to a cage in the foyer just inside the main doors on the first floor to get a Nuka-Cola Quantum. From there drop to the 1st floor and continue clearing the raiders. Access the basement level by staircase.

Crouched, approach the corners and the doors cautiously. Try and sucker the raiders into coming after you one at a time so you can pick them off. Hang back just around the corner and wait for them to expose themselves, at which point you can use VATS to blast them or smash them with your melee weapon or fists. Always try to avoid two raiders coming at you at once unless you don't mind getting hurt.

After you clear all three floors, you can loot the bodies and gather up any other items you choose. If you find yourself overburdened, you can place non-essential items in a container (or even a corpse) for later retrieval. Stuff can be dumped on the ground -- outside the doors for more convenient retrieval. Take as long as you want, the loot isn't going anywhere if you stay in the vicinity (loot put into a locker may disappear.) Don't expect stuff to remain dropped or stashed to remain after long absences to other areas of the map. Mattresses are available at several places throughout the building to sleep on and heal.

The tunnel in the basement itself is well lit and rather short. Soon after descending, the tunnel splits. An ant could be roaming in the right tunnel, and may sneak up on you. The ants you encounter along the main tunnel to the left will come at you singly or in two's. Be warned, they are deceptively fast. Note also that shooting an ant in the antenna will cause it to "frenzy" and turn on anything in its vicinity. A good strategy is to draw ants toward the tunnel entrance and then shoot one in the antenna; it will then turn back and fight nearby ants. Be careful, as it is easy to get caught in a blind corner with no escape especially when backing up, and the ants will swarm you and put a serious hurt to you. Inside there are several spoil heaps, good sources for finding Ant Nectar. When you reach the end of the tunnel, many ants will cascade from a ledge above you. Laying mines before you reach this ledge might be a good idea. Run back the way you came and the ants will get some serious hurt from the mines.

Easter Eggs
If you approach on the side with the door opening into "Springvale Elementary" and continue on and around the broken wall, follow the path that leads downward. As you reach the bottom, look to your right. There should be a poster there with a turtle and a bomb. On the bottom part of the picture, it will show the turtle in its shell with the bomb exploding next to it. This is a reference to the famous propaganda film Duck and Cover, which tells you that in the event of a nuclear attack, you should duck and cover your head, using a cartoon turtle to illustrate the point. This same "turtle and bomb" poster can be found in Hannibal Hamlin's "house" on the second floor at the Temple of the Union, and in the burnt out Early Dawn Academy that you pass through on your way to Galaxy News Radio

Glitches
On the Xbox 360 version, the ground in front of the school is occasionally glitched, so the player can see the bottom, similar to the noclip console command for PC. The school may also have unusual triangular spikes jutting through the walls.


 * Game may also freeze upon entry and exit of school.
 * Game may also freeze going near the school.

Appearances
 only appears in Fallout 3.