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The Croydon Schools Athletic Association has continued its
excellent work. It has sections for cricket, football, boxing, swimming,
athletics and country dancing. The work of organising and
supervising inter-schools competitions in these branches of athletics
is voluntarily undertaken by the teachers and is worthy of the
highest praise.
Girls.
(Central, Senior and Junior Mixed, Senior and Junior Girls
and Infants).
The year was one of steady work on the "Syllabus of Physical
Training, 1933," which is now well established in all schools. It
is good to note increased vitality, joyous alertness and resultant
improvement in posture of the majority of the children.
In accordance with the Education Committee's scheme
(whereby all Junior Schools shall be equipped with jumping stands
and mats, for agility work, within three years) twelve more Junior
Departments were thus supplied in 1935 and it is anticipated that
the remaining ones will be equipped in 1936. In addition, seven
Senior Girls' Department received a second gymnastic mat, so that
now all Central and Senior Departments have two such mats,
towards the four suggested by the Board of Education as necessary
equipment for classes of 40 pupils of Senior School age. A certain
amount of portable equipment, such as balls, ropes, quoit rings,
team markers, etc., was supplied to each department as before.
Swimming.—It has not yet been found possible to arrange
bath accommodation for the Benson, St. George's Hall and Addington
Village Junior Schools, but, with these exceptions, all Central,
Senior and Junior Departments sent classes to the swimming baths
during the season May to October and the attendance was well
maintained throughout. Over one thousand girls learned to "swim
a width" for the first time and the number of certificates gained
(which dropped in 1934 owing to the restricted use of the baths
during the drought) increased very satisfactorily—indeed in some
cases, notably in Elementary and Advanced Life Saving and Royal
Life Saving Society awards, records were created—367 girls gaining
Elementary, 215 Advanced Life Saving Certificates, 130 Intermediate
Certificates, 42 Bronze Medallions, 1 Bar to Medallion, 7
Second Class Instructor's Certificates and 2 Silver Awards of the
Royal Life Saving Society.
Twenty schools arranged Swimming Galas at the end of the
season, in addition to the Inter-Schools Gala organised by the
Croydon Schools Athletic Association.