§ 82. Mr. WATERSONasked the President of the Board of Education the number of free places awarded under Article 20 of the Regulation for Secondary Schools in the administrative county of Somerset and to pupils residing in the urban district of Weston-super-Mare, respectively, for the school years 1918–19 and 1919–20?
The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the BOARD of EDUCATION (Mr. Herbert Lewis)The number of free place pupils admitted to secondary schools in Somersetshire in 1918–19 and 1919–20 were 191 and 254, respectively. I cannot state the number of free place pupils admitted in those years who came from Weston-super-Mare, but only two have been identified as so coming in 1919–20.
§ 83. Mr. WATERSONasked the President of the Board of Education if he is aware that Weston-super-Mare, with a population within a radius of five miles of its town hall of over 30,000, has no secondary school recognised by the Board; that the local education authority held a public inquiry into the matter nearly two years ago, and decided that a secondary school for both boys and girls was urgently required; that pupils from the district still have to travel from 30 to 40 miles daily to attend schools at Bristol or Bridgwater, which are already overcrowded; and what steps does he pro pose to take to expedite the removal of the disability suffered by the parents and children concerned?
Mr. H. LEWISThe reply to the first three parts of the question is in the affirmative. The Board have recently approved the preliminary proposals of the authority for the provision of a boys' school at Weston-super-Mare, and the provision of a girls' school is also understood to be in contemplation.