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Jack, children of three and lour years old are preferred to infants of two, the reason
being that the stairs are steep and falls are not uncommon. At the Children's
House selection is made from families in the immediate neighbourhood who associate
themselves with other interests connected with the school. At Rommany Road
the poorest children and those whose mothers work outside are chosen. At Ardwick
(Manchester) children are as a rule taken in turn on the waiting list, though very
dirty children are refused. A few schools have almost no waiting list, and children
are taken as they apply.
Accommodation.—Types of building are very varied, schools built for the purpose
being naturally the most satisfactory.
Two Bradford schools (Lilycroft and Princeville) are amongst the best. These
are of open-air type with large verandahs roofed with glass and gardens of good size.
Rommany Nursery School is also an excellent building of open-air type with all
modern requirements. The Rachel McMillan, with its six open-air shelters and
attractive gardens, is also admirable. The Children's House (Bow) with a spacious
schoolroom, roof playground and large open-air shelter is a bright spot in a slum
neighbourhood.
Of the adapted buildings one cannot speak so highly, though the best use is
made of accommodation in many respects unsuitable. Most are ordinary dwelling
houses and stairs are a difficulty with little children who require constant supervision
in going up or down to their cloakrooms and lavatories. Also the rooms are
frequently too small and freedom for exercise is impeded. Sanitary conveniences
are sometimes unsuitable both in type and situation.
The Kilburn Union Jack School is an example of the worst type of accommodation.
This is a three-storey and basement house, the ground and first floors being
used by the children. The schoolroom, also used for meals and sleeping, is reached
by steep and narrow stairs from the ground floor cloakroom. There is no hot
water supply, and the only cold water tap is in the kitchen. For washing the
children all water requires to be carried thence to the ground floor cloakroom. A
very tiny garden is practically never used owing to difficulty with stairs.
Actual floor space per child for play, meals and sleeping, but excluding cloakroom
and kitchen accommodation, varies from about 15 square feet at Kilburn
Union Jack and the Ardwick (Manchester), to 32 square feet at the Jellicoe, and 38
at the Mary Ward, the Board of Education's requirements being not less than 12 to
15 feet. In open-air schools cubic space is, of course, of less importance than in
converted dwellings. Without open-air conditions a room of the usual height with
only 15 square feet per child tends to be unpleasantly stuffy during the rest period
in the afternoon. A bald statement of floor space is misleading in other respects.
At the Mary Ward, for instance, with 38 square feet per child, the space is so cut up
into small rooms that children have less freedom for games and exercise than in a
single spacious room at the Children's House, where the floor space is about 29
square feet per child. A disadvantage, however, of a single room for all purposes is
that new two-year-olds are often very noisy, and, especially during the rest period,
it is advisable to have a room for their own use. For that reason part of the
large single schoolroom at Rommany Road has been partitioned off by sliding
doors.
The heating and lighting of playrooms are generally good and open fires are
invariably protected by guards.
As regards cloakroom accommodation, pegs are as a rule placed too close and
clothing overlaps. Most cloakrooms have some heating arrangements, but a few
are still lacking in that respect.
Sanitary accommodation is, as a rule, sufficient, though sometimes inconvenientlv
situated and of unsuitable type for children. Nearly all schools have
provision within the building.