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57
Certain alterations compared with last year have been made.
In last year's report, there were Berrymede Junior Boys' and South
Acton Junior Boys', Girls, and Infants. In this year's Table,
Berrymede Junior Boys' and South Acton Junior Boys' have been
merged and called Berrymede Junior Boys'. The South Acton
Girls' and Infants are in this year's Table known as Berrymede
Girls' and Infants'.
The John Perryn School appears for the first time. East
Acton Mixed disappears. The John Perryn school children formerly
attended the East Acton Mixed School and the Acton Wells Mixed
and Infants' Departments. The opening of the John Perryn
School accounts for the reduction in the two departments of the
Acton Wells School.
There is an increase in the number on the registers, and the
number in average attendance. This is due to several causes. The
natural increase in the population tends to keep up the number of
schoool children. The abnormal birth rate of 1920 is still felt as
a "bulge" in schools. It will be remembered that throughout
the country there was an abnormally high birth rate in 1920 and
these children will be in 1932 in the Senior Department. There
is also a slight increase in the Infants' departments of Beaumont
Park and Rothschild Infants' Schools, due to the establishment of
nursery classes. With the exception of these two departments, and
for the reason stated, the general trend of the school population
has not materially altered in the last year. There is a tendency
for the reduction in the number of school children in the southern
areas, but this reduction is balanced by the increased number in
the northern part of the district. The complete results of the
census have not been published, but the ward population has been
issued by the Registrar General. The North East Ward increased
in the ten years by over 6,000 inhabitants, the North West by nearly
4,500, the South East by nearly 1,500, but the South West decreased
by nearly 2,700 inhabitants. The exact figures are given in the
Annual Health Report. The age distribution of the population has
not been received, but it will probably be found that the number
of school children have decreased in the same proportion as the
general population of the South West Ward. This is not the place
to discuss the factors which are in operation but to those whose
sphere of work lies in the South West Ward, causes are evident.
Large families are now comparatively rare there, and the size of
the families is approximating to those with which we are familiar
in the other wards, and the causes which are in operation are the
same. The causes are not transient ones, and the difficulties which
now face the Committee respecting the school accommodation will
persist in a more intense form in the immediate future.