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83
The main lines of it are
1. Raise the age for admission for education to 7 years.
2. Close all the Infant Departments as such and convert them into nurseries
for children up to 7 years of age, serving the area surrounding
each one.
3. In each case retain the Headmistress to act as Superintendent of the
Centre, but draft the Assistant Teachers into the Junior Mixed and
Senior Departments, where they would lelieve you of any further anxiety
as to a dearth of permanent teachers, and you could then give up
your present inseoure reliance on " supply" teachers.
4. Where there is at present no Junior Mixed Department, the vacated
Infant one (or part of it) might be so used.
5. The Assistant-s of the Superintendent of the Infant Welfare Centre might
be respectable widows (preferably those who had lost their husbands
in the war). They could bring their own youngsters (under 7 years)
to the Centre to which they are attached, and would be content with
moderate wages.
These nursery-schools would become models of their kind. At them the
elder girls could learn practical lessons of MOTHERCRAFT, which would
be most useful to them when they have babies and homes of their own.
As regards raising the age of admission for ordinary education, I believe
that this change could be brought about by an Administrative Order of the
Board of Education. But if not, in these days of 24-hour legislation,
Parliamentary powers could be soon obtained for such a necessary measure.
The success, or otherwise, of these Infant Welfare Centres during the
war could determine their continuance afterwards.
SIDNEY C. LAAVRENCE,
School Medical Officer.
Ordered.—To be printed and circulated before discussion on February
6th, 1917.