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Special requirements.
(i) Rest-sheds.—A large proportion of the children attending the school should have an hour's
rest after the mid-day meal. Late hours and disturbed sleep are potent causes of debility. Rest
should be taken on stretchers in the open air but during inclement weather rest-sheds are required
and such sheds should therefore be constructed to take the stretchers without crowding. Two sheds
are better than one as children can rest undisturbed in one shed while the other can be used for recreation
if necessary.
(ii) Dining Room.—This would need to seat 200 children for three meals a day.
(iii) A kitchen, scullery and larder are also required, suitably equipped for the preparation of
meals, for washing up and storage of food and crockery, etc.
(iv) Bathrooms.—Baths in the form of shower and slipper baths should be provided to enable
the children to be bathed at least once a week. The bathrooms should take 20 spray and three adult
baths. A dressing room also is required.
(v) W.C.'s.—These should be separate for boys and girls. 14 w.c.'s are required for girls and
11 for boys, plus 20 feet of urinals for boys. Separate w.c. accommodation is required for the staff.
(vi) Lavatory basins.—Thirty lavatory basins are needed and these should be supplied with hot
and cold running water. Separate lavatory basins are required for the staff.
(vii) Cloakroom and cupboard accommodation.—This is required for the children's coats,
towels, hair and tooth brushes. Each child should have its own peg and the pegs should be placed
sufficiently far apart for clothes not to overlap. The cloakrooms should be well lighted and ventilated
and cut off from the teaching rooms. Provision for the drying of clothes should be made. Separate
cloakroom accommodation is required for the use of the staff.
(viii) School Nurse.—A whole-time nurse is required at the school to attend to any dressings
needed, keep under supervision splints and other apparatus worn and superintend rest periods and
cleanliness. She would also assist the School Medical Officer at his examination of the children and
carry out the preliminary weighing, measuring and sight testing.
(ix) Medical Room.—This is required for the use of the school nurse for the performance
of minor dressings and for the use of any child suffering from slight temporary illness in school who
needs to rest under the observation of the nurse. This room would also be used for medical inspections
by the School Medical Officer at his periodic visits and also by the school dentist for dental inspections.
The room should be 20 feet across in one direction as this distance is required for the testing of vision.
(x) Kitchen Staff.—Two extra staff would be required for the present numbers and three for
200 children.
(xi) Transport of scholars.—It is desirable that all children should be conveyed to and from
the proposed new Physically Defective School by school bus in the same way as is carried out in the
case of Oldfield Road P.D. School at the present time. The present school buses can deal with the 163
children now on the roll but if the increased accommodation suggested at the new school is fully
utilised, additional school buses will be required.
Additional Costs.
So far as the medical and physical care of these children is concerned, the only additional cost
would be represented by the provision of lunches and teas not now provided and additional kitchen
staff. This additional cost is estimated at £400 per annum for lunches and teas. About 20 per cent,
of the cost of meals is paid for by parents and if this percentage were maintained, the additional cost
of £400 would be reduced by £80. It is doubtful, however, if parents would be prepared to pay for
teas. The cost of two additional kitchen staff would be approximately £200 per annum.
If an additional bus is required, the estimated additional cost would be £400 per annum.
Notes by the Director of Education.
From a purely educational point of view the present building is unsuited for a school of 200
children. Such a school would require eight or nine classrooms, an assembly hall, two handicraft
rooms for boys and girls and a combined cookery and laundry centre. At the present school the hall
is used as a dining room. The tables, chairs and forms which are used at the mid-day meal have to be
moved twice daily by the senior boys, tables laid and meals prepared. The hall, which is required for
the school assembly in the mornings and afternoons and also for singing, rhythmic work, games and
country dancing classes during the morning and afternoon sessions is not always available for this work.
It is impossible to utilise the hall properly as a combined dining room and assembly hall.
Further, the majority of the children on admission to the school are backward through illness,
consequent frequent absences and the re-action of physical weakness upon mental alertness. Many,
however, show special aptitude towards practical subjects. Up to the present time the senior girls
have been taught needlework and the senior boys light woodwork and pewter work. These subjects
have been taken by the class teacher in the classroom on small desks which, in the case of the boys,
have proved unsuitable for the work.
In the majority of cases the employment taken by boys who leave the school is of the light
manual type, e.g., with watchmakers, opticians and dental mechanics. The majority of girls on
leaving school learn the dressmaking or tailoring trades. In view of the fact that these children remain
at school until the age of 16 it is desirable that the last two years of their training should be purely
vocational so that when they leave school they may be prepared in some measure to take their place