in accordance with the rules in Schedule VII. (7). Schools already receiving annual grants will be regarded as accommodating the number of scholars for which they have been hitherto recognised by the Department, provided that in no case there shall be less than 80 cubic feet of internal space and 8 square feet of internal area for each unit of average attendance. If in the neighbourhood of any school there is a deficiency of school accommodation, which is being supplied with due despatch, the accommodation of that school may with the consent of the Department be temporarily calculated at 80 cubic feet and 8 square feet for each unit of average attendance. Instruction in Drawing and Needlework. (b.) that as part of the ordinary course of instruction in a day school, the girls are taught plain needlework and cutting-out, and the boys in a school for older scholars are satisfactorily taught drawing either with or without other manual instruction. The instruction in drawing will be required to satisfy the Science and Art Department. The conditions of Article 85 (b) as to boys will not be enforced (i.) in respect of any annual grant falling due before the 31st August, 1891, or (ii.) in schools where the inspector certifies that means for teaching drawing cannot be procured. Instruction of Infants. (c.) that, as far as relates to the grant to an infant school or class, the infants are taught suitably to their age, and so as not to interfere with the instruction of the older scholars in the same school. Registers, Accounts, and Certificates. (d.) that the admission and daily attendance of the scholars are carefully registered by or under the supervision of the principal teacher, and periodically verified by the managers; that accounts of income and expenditure are accurately kept by the managers and duly audited; and that all statistical returns and certificates of character are trustworthy. (7) The rules in Schedule VII. are the rules to be observed in planning and fitting up public elementary schools (see p. 530). Employment of Teachers. (e) that the principal teacher is not allowed to undertake. duties not connected with the school which may occupy any part whatever of the school hours, or of the time appointed for the special instruction of pupil-teachers. School must be Efficient. 86. The school must be efficient. A school or class is regarded as satisfying this article if the inspector does not recommend the withholding of the grant under Article 98 (a), Article 98 (b), Article 101 (a) or Article 101 (b) (8). After the 31st August (8) The following are the Articles of the Code which are referred to :Grants to Infant Schools or Classes are as follows: 98. (a.) A Fixed Grant of-(i.) 9s. if the scholars are taught as a separate department, under a certificated teacher of their own, or as a class under a teacher not less than eighteen years of age, approved by the Inspector. order that this grant may be made, the scholars must be taught in a room properly constructed and furnished for the instruction of infants. (ii.) 7s. where the above special conditions are not satisfied. Only one infant class will be recognised in any department. In (b.) A Variable Grant of 2s., 45., or 6. The Department shall decide which, if any, of these grants shall be paid, after considering the report and recommendation of the Inspector, and allowing for the special circumstances of the case, and having regard to the provision made for (1) suitable instruction in the elementary subjects, (2) simple lessons on objects and on the phenomena of nature and of common life, and (3) appropriate and varied occupations. The Inspector will recommend the highest of these grants when all three of the above requirements are thoroughly well fulfilled and the discipline is highly satisfactory. The intermediate grant will be recommended when the first of the three requirements is well, and the other two fairly, fulfilled, and the discipline is satisfactory. The lowest grant will be recommended when the teaching of the elementary subjects is fairly good, the discipline is satisfactory, and either the second or third of the requirements is fairly fulfilled. The grant of 25. is a fixed grant, and may not be reduced except under Article 92 (see p. 526), nor may it be withdrawn unless the whole grant to the infant school or class is withdrawn (Article 86). Grants to Day Schools for Older Scholars. The grants made to schools for older scholars are as follows:- (i.) The Department shall decide which, if either, of these sums shall be (ii.) The grant of 12s. 6d. is a fixed grant, and may not be reduced except under Article 92 (see p. 526); nor may it be withdrawn unless the whole grant is withdrawn (Article 86). (iii.) No school shall receive the higher of the two principal grants unless the Inspector reports that the scholars throughout the school are satisfactorily taught Recitation. In order to satisfy this condition it will be required, as a rule, that the 1893, a school will not be regarded as efficient unless at least one class subject is satisfactorily taught to the older scholars. The grant will not be withheld under this article until the following conditions have been fulfilled : (1.) The inspector must, at his annual visit, report the school or class inefficient and state specifically the grounds of such judgment, and the Department must with the report give formal warning to the managers that the grant may be withheld under this article at the next annual inspection, if the inspector again reports the school or class to be inefficient. (2.) The inspector must, at his next annual visit, again report the school or class inefficient, and again state specifically the grounds of such judgment. scholars shall be able to recite in Standard I. 20 lines of poetry, in Standard II. 40 lines, in Standard III. 60 lines, in Standard IV. 80 lines, in Standard V. 100 lines, and in Standards VI. and VII. 150 lines; and that the meaning and allusions shall be properly understood. The passages for repetition in Standards V., VI., and VII. shall be chosen from Shakespeare or Milton, or some other standard author. (iv.) All scholars whose names are on the registers of the school must, as a rule, be present at the inspection, unless there is a reasonable excuse for their absence. (v.) All scholars present are liable to be examined in the three elementary subjects according to the Standards set forth in Schedule I. The Standards in which scholars are presented for examination need not be the same for each subject. The scholars examined will be examined in the classes in which they are taught. (vi.) In ordinary circumstances, scholars should be advanced not less than one Standard in a year. (vii.) The scholars will be examined, as a rule, by sample, not less than one-third being individually examined; but the examination of the scholars in Standards III. to VII. inclusive may be individual throughout, if the managers so desire. (b.) (i.) A Grant for Discipline and Organisation of Is. or Is. 6d. The Department shall decide which, if either, of these sums shall be paid after considering the report and recommendation of the Inspector. The Inspector in recommending either the higher or the lower of these grants, will have special regard to the moral training and conduct of the children, to the neatness and order of the school premises and furniture, and to the proper classification of the scholars, both for teaching and examination. But he will not interfere with any method of organisation adopted in a training college, if it is satisfactorily carried out in the school. To meet the requirements respecting discipline, the managers and teachers will be expected to satisfy the Inspector that all reasonable care is taken, in the ordinary management of the school, to bring up the children in habits of punctuality, of good manners and language, of cleanliness and neatness, and also to impress upon the children the importance of cheerful obedience to duty, of consideration and respect for others, and of honour and truthfulness in word and act. The Inspector should also satisfy himself that the teacher has not unduly pressed those who are dull or delicate in preparation for examination at any time of the year. (ii.) The grant of Is. is a fixed grant, and may not be reduced except under Article 92 (see p. 526); nor may it be withdrawn unless the whole grant is withdrawn (Article 86). (3.) If the managers within fourteen days after the receipt of the second adverse report of the inspector appeal against his decision, the school must be visited and such adverse report must be confirmed by a chief inspector. Managers' Returns. 87. All returns called for by the Department or by Parliament must be duly made. The annual return to be made to the Department (Art. 23) contains a form of authority, to be signed by three persons (none of whom may be a paid teacher in the school), empowering one of their number to sign the receipt for any grant made to the school. In a school provided by a school board this authority is not required; but the receipt must be signed by the treasurer of the Board. Compliance with Order to close School. 88. The managers must at once comply with any notice of the sanitary authority of the district in which the school is situated, requiring them for a specified time, with a view to preventing the spread of disease, either to close the school or to exclude any scholars from attendance, but after complying they may appeal to the Department if they consider the notice to be unreasonable (9). (9) The Public Health Act, 1875, by sec. 308 provides that "where any person sustains any damage by reason of the exercise of any of the powers of this Act in relation to any matter as to which he is not himself in default, full compensation shall be made to such person by the local authority exercising such powers." In Roberts v. Falmouth Urban Sanitary Authority, L.G.C. (1888), 173, 52 J. P., 741, the plaintiff was the head master of a British school receiving as part of his emoluments one-third of the fees paid by the children attending the school. The Urban Sanitary Authority, in consequence of measles being prevalent in the borough, passed a resolution directing that the British schools within the borough should be temporarily closed, and that failing this the Local Government Board would be communicated with. In consequence of this resolution the school was closed, and by the closing of the schools the plaintiff lost his fees, and he claimed that as the school was closed by the Sanitary Authority in the exercise of powers under the Public Health Act, 1875, he was entitled to compensation under sec. 308 of that Act. On the part of the defendants it was contended that the schools were not closed by the exercise of any of the powers under the Public Health Act, but that they were closed by reason of obligations imposed by the Article of the Code of the Education Department which was similar to Article 88 of the present Code, and that therefore the claim for compensation could not be sustained. It was held that the school was closed not under the powers of the Public Health Act, but by the managers of the school in pursuance of an obligation imposed upon them by the Code of the Education Department if they wished to fulfil the conditions which must be fulfilled to entitle them to a parliamentary grant on account of the school. Judgment was accordingly given for the defendants. |