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166
Extracts from Report for 1925 of Miss May Appleton, Organiser
of Physical Training, Girls' Senior Mixed, Junior Mixed and
Infants' Departments.
As in 1924, six sessions weekly were devoted to physical
education in the schools and four sessions to the Remedial Exercises
Clinic.
The work has proceeded on much the same lines as in 1924 and
there is little fresh to report.
Many schools are still considerably hampered by the lack of
suitable indoor accommodation for the physical training lessons in
bad weather, and the ingenuity of the teachers has been taxed to
keep the class-room lessons fresh and interesting. Several schools
have now provided themselves with gramophones and the teaching
of Country Dancing has been considerably helped thereby.
Slowly, but surely, many of the difficulties of suitable clothing
are being overcome. In the majority of senior schools children
make an effort to wear gymnastic shoes, while in many schools the
wearing of tunics as school uniform is becoming increasingly the
practice.
The provision of equipment for games and physical exercises
—e.g., netballs, bran bags, balls, team bands, etc., is still a
difficulty especially in the poorer schools.
This year, for the first time, an Inter-Schools Games Party
was held on Saturday afternoon, February 28th. Eighteen schools
sent teams and the party was much enjoyed by all who took part.
The games chosen were varied in type and the competitive element
was emphasised as little as possible. It was felt that the meeting
of the schools in this way did much to foster a joyful spirit in
play.
Ten schools provided a programme of national dances,
including English, Irish,( Scotch, Welsh, French, Danish, Dutch,
Flemish, Spanish, Serbian, and Scandinavian dances, at the
League of Nations Union Fete in June.
All the Girls' and Senior Mixed Departments, with the exception
of St. Joseph's and Shirley, attended the swimming baths
during the summer season and 577 girls learned to swim a width
for the first time. The provision of 20 pairs of special floats to each
bath (three-quarters of the cost of which was borne by the Education
Committee) greatly facilitated the teaching of this subject,
and all previous records were broken both in the number of
children taught to swim and in certificates gained. In this connec-