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177
Adventure Playgrounds
The need to get away from sophisticated play is ever present
in congested urban areas and enlightened Heads are striving to
find ways in which safe, simple, natural play can still be part
of the heritage of the younger children. Many adventure areas
have been put up, areas which sometimes have a "Swiss Family
Robinson" atmosphere, where children build, dig, climb, cut and
swing, guided largely by their own inner urges. Supervision is
kindly, discreet and non-interfering, so that the drive which is
in every child will be fostered and not retarded too soon by the
knowledge that all this has been done before and so much better
by adults.
Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme
There is a steady but not spectacular increase in the
number of pupils taking part, and there is a growing appreciation
of the value of this type of programme. The complexity of the
scheme demands leadership of a high order, and to sustain this
effort over many years for a large number of pupils requires
great dedication. The borough can be proud that it has teachers
willing to devote their leisure hours to this activity. The higher
awards in the scheme require residential experience and this year
High Elms was used in order to meet this need cheaply and
conveniently for about thirty pupils.
Miss Bentley Memorial
When Miss F. M. Bentley, the former Physical Education
Adviser of the boroughs making up the present borough, died,
her friends and colleagues collected a sum of money for a memorial
as a token of the affection and esteem in which she had been held.
Since she prepared from 1936 to 1960 the P.E. reports for the
Medical Officer of the former Borough of Bromley, it is right
that it be recorded here that there exist outside the King George VI
Hostel at The National Recreation Centre, three seats beautifully
made and sited and dedicated to her memory.
These seats were officially handed over by a small group of
Head Teachers and the then Chief Education Officer, accompanied
by the P.E. Adviser, to the Director, who received the
gift on behalf of the Greater London Council and the C.C.P.R.
These seats provide a much needed amenity outside the Hostel
on hot summer days.
In-Service Training of Teachers
Teachers of Physical Education find themselves engulfed in
a variety of sports and activities that besiege them. During
Education Week a survey was made of the existing branches of
the schools programme. It was seen that forty-two separate
activities were to be found on the curricula of the thirty-four