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126
Many teachers attend the country dance classes arranged
by the English Folk Dance Society at Winterbourne School.
Three gymnastic classes for girls, in connection with the
Evening Institutes were carried on during the year. With the
exception of that of Thornton Heath, these Centres are poorly
equipped with gymnastic apparatus, and although interest is
sustained by the substitution of folk dances and games, the
practice of exercises on gymnastic apparatus—e.g., vaulting and
climbing—proves by far the most popular form of physical training
for youths and girls of the age dealt with at the classes,
viz., 14-17.
Three Girls' Schools again arranged gymnastic classes in
connection with the Old Scholars' Clubs.
Like the Evening Institute classes, the women's gymnastic
class in connection with the Central Polytechnic suffered from
lack of suitable gymnastic equipment, the only gymnasium available
being the hall of Tarn worth Road Schools, with a minimum
of apparatus. There is no Play Centre in Croydon. No school
camp, in connection with Girls' Schools, has been held during
the year.
As in previous years, I devoted four sessions weekly to the
Remedial Exercises Clinic, a report of which appears elsewhere.
64 children were treated during the year.
At only one school has a "Corrective" Class been carried
on during the year, the other class at another school having to
lapse owing to difficulties in connection with staffing. It is
hoped to start these classes in other schools in the coming year,
and thus reduce somewhat the large numbers now being dealt
with at the Remedial Exercises and Massage Clinics.
MAY APPLETON,
Organiser of Physical Traning.
It will be seen that much stimulating work is being done
both in regard to general physical training and the use of organised
games in the Girls' and Infants' Departments, while the teachers
have also had various opportunities of refreshing their knowledge
of the work through demonstrations of special methods and short
courses of instruction.
The benefit of physical training extends far beyond the mere
physical welfare of the child, important though this be. It affects
to a marked extent the child's sense of discipline, develops alertness,
encourages the spirit of co-operation, and in all these ways
has a very direct influence on the child's capacity for education in
its widest sense.
(b) Boys' Departments.
The physical training in Boys' Departments has been conducted
by the class teachers. In the absence of an organiser of
physical training for these departments, it is difficult to prevent
material variations in the standard of efficiency from school to