View report page

The daily routine, although varied according to the season,
is mainly the same from day to day. The child has two meals
and morning milk, a rest of 1½ hours or more, exercise in various
forms, a medical inspection, and medical care. The food we
have tried to have yet more varied than formerly, and the children
are interested in the new dishes and eat with exceedingly good
appetite.
The rest of the day the child is an explorer, with "all the
world his oyster," whether in the garden finding creatures and
flowers, playing with leaves, water and wind, or inside, coming
in contact with all sorts of pictures, stories, materials, shapes
and sounds. We have tried to provide these in such quantity
that the child is neither satiated or bewildered by too much or
retarded by too little. The materials given are such as to lead
him to use his own powers, not simply to amuse and occupy him.
And we try to have such a day that there is always leisure
to talk to them when they ask for it, so as to help them with our
experience, and to show them the affection and love without which
they cannot grow to their best.
We try as much as possible to let the mothers see what we
are doing, so that they are interested in what the children tell
them, and also so that the children do not feel separated from
their homes. For this reason we allow the mothers into the cloakroom
until 10 o'clock in the morning and into the playroom when
they fetch their children from 4—4.30 p.m. We feel this to be
of more value than visiting, lectures, or mothers' parties (all of
which we do have) in making the Nurserv School a happy,
homely place with a very close connection with the child's own
home.
(16) Secondary Schools and Other Institutions of
Higher Education.
The Institutions referred to here comprise—
(1) The Municipal College (Provided by the Authority).
(2) The West Ham Secondary School (Provided by the
Authority).
(3) St. Angela's High School for Girls (Ursuline Convent)
(Aided by the Authority).
(4) The Plaistow Secondary School (Provided by the
Authority).
(5) The West Ham High School for Girls (Aided by th»
Authority).
L
193