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11
Maintenance of Premises.
Maintenance of the Committee's property was carried out
during the year. The sum of money available has had to be carefully
husbanded because of the increased expenditure on old buildings.
Many of the schools are not only old but were planned when
standards of school requirements were entirely different from
those to-day. Approaches to the Local Education Authority
resulted in an additional sum of £4,780 being made available for
maintenance works. The Committee is aiming at having schools
decorated externally and internally at intervals of five and seven
years respectively. For some years the periods have been much
longer, but during the past year buildings which received attention
five years ago externally and nine or ten years ago internally
received attention.
The Margaret Brearley E.S.N. School was extensively damaged
by fire on the 19th March. The provision of temporary accommodation
for the school and the reinstatement of the building
provided a challenge to all concerned.
Classrooms at the Pretoria Avenue School were reinstated for
use as a temporary annexe for the William Morris Technical School.
Playgrounds.
The normal programme of repairs and resurfacing of playgrounds
was carried out during the Summer holidays, but the wet
weather created difficulties for the contractors.
Floors.
During recent years wood block floors have from time to time
been sanded and then sealed with a plastic preparation. It has been
established that the regular sanding reduces the life of the wood
blocks and it was decided to maintain surfaces by the application
of an oil seal. Experience to date indicates that the new method has
given good results.
Some seventy classrooms still have stepped or sloping galleries
and the programme of levelling has been continued. Unfortunately
the sum of money available has been limited.
Heating.
Maintenance of installations was carried out during the year;
a number of boiler sections required renewal. The number of oilfired
installations has continued to increase and specialist assistance
has been obtained to keep them in efficient operation. Heating
systems in a number of schools require to be remodelled. Some are
inadequate, whilst with other systems there is the ever-present
possibility of breakdown.