The school be a really nice house. I know someone who lives in an old school here and it still has the big hall. He did have to do a lot of work on it.
I think your 'fails' still have merit if you get some interesting pictures. Sometimes the outsides are photogenic, but not the 'mess' obviously. Hope this year can be better for your exploring.
Very few fails left now, maybe one more post and they are extinguished. Lots of tales to tell though, some very decent ones.