§ MR. RIDSDALE (Brighton)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Education if his attention has been called to the dismissal of Miss Gardner, the head mistress of St. Mark's Infant School at Horsham, a school recently under the education authority, on the ground of her being a Nonconformist; and whether, in view of the circumstances of the case, steps will be taken to provide the dismissed teacher at the earliest opportunity with another appointment of similar value.
§ MR. BIRRELLMy attention has been drawn to a newspaper cutting which purports to give the facts of this case. The actual situation appears to be as follows. This school was originally a Church of England School, but was leased to the local authority in 1889. The trustees of the school have now given notice to terminate the lease on June 13th next, and have given the statutory notice of their desire to re-establish it as a voluntary school. The local authority raise no objection to the proposal which cannot, at the earliest, be considered by the Board until after the expiration of the statutory notice on June 1st. I gather that the trustees have been approached as to their willingness to take over the existing staff of the school. The trustees have not apparently, as yet, come to any decision, but they seem to have a difficulty in employing as head mistress of a Church of England school the present head mistress, Miss Gardner, who is a Nonconformist. I have no power to force the trustees to appoint Miss Gardner in the event of the school becoming a Church of England school, or 1267 to provide her with a fresh appointment elsewhere.