London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

View report page

East Ham 1909

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for East Ham]

This page requires JavaScript

87
SCHOOL ACCOMMODATION.
There are 24 Schools, including 3 Non-Provided Schools,
representing 55 departments. The total accommodation is
25,873 and the total number of children on the registers at the
end of last year was 25,081.
Out of a total of 54 departments, 29 have an average
attendance in excess of their accommodation. A new School
is now being built at Vicarage Lane and the commencement of
another at North Woolwich is expected at an early date.
SCHOOL BUILDINGS.
It is difficult to give any summary of these as they vary
much in design. The majority are buildings of three storeys
and of the central hall type. With the exception of St.
Winefride's R.C. School, there are none of very recent construction.
As to their hygienic conditions, some of them, especially
the older schools, are not entirely satisfactory. The table on
pages 85 & 86 gives a list of the schools, the date of opening,
accommodation, and a few other details.
Furniture.—The School desks are practically all of one
type, that is continuous seats and desks, chiefly of two sizes to
accommodate five and eight children respectively.
Much better designs are either single desks and seats or continuous
desks with separate seats. In the new Schools I hope
these will be provided.
Ventilation.—All the Schools have natural ventilation, the
inlets for fresh air being the windows, supplemented in nearly all
the Schools by Tobin's Tubes. The latter are not satisfactory
as no method of cleaning them has been provided. In consequence
they contain a quantity of dust, derived both from the