§ MR. RADCLIFFE COOKE (Hereford)I beg to ask the Vice President of the Council on Education is he aware that the Ashperton and Canon Ffrome National Schools in the County of Hereford were built in 1855 on plans sanctioned by the Education Department, and enlarged in 1874 in accordance with plans submitted to and approved by the Department, and altered and repaired at considerable cost in 1890 and 1892; that the main school-room, without the classroom, is large enough to accommodate 30 more children than are in average attendance; and, that for 20 years past the school has not received the good or excellent grant; and will he explain why the managers have been ordered to enlarge their class-room in order to secure the better training of infants although an infant class does not exist (the average of infants being under 20), and there is ample space for such training in the main school-room, in view of his utterance to the effect that he did not wish to unduly press existing schools?
§ THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (Mr. ACLAND,) York, W.R., RotherhamThis school was built in 1855 with the aid of a Parliamentary grant, and a class-room was added in 1874, a sketch of which was approved by the Department at the time. According to the Returns made by the managers there were no alterations made in 1890, but in 1892 a new floor and window were put in. The school is a mixed and infants' school, with an average attendance of 100 children, and 119 on the books, of 25 are infants. The schoolroom is large enough to hold the whole of the children, but it is obviously impossible that upwards of 100 children of all ages should be efficiently taught in a single room. The managers have, therefore, been informed that the class-room (which in only ten feet wide) must be enlarged so as to make it suitable for the instruction of infants. I will, however, consider the question further.