Mr. HARVEYask the President of the Board of Education whether the Board of Education during the past year has refused to sanction the provision of new class-rooms by local education authorities unless for the accommodation of more than 40 children; and whether this still continues the policy of the Board?
Mr. WOODIn a new building the size of the class-rooms will depend to some extent upon the size and the organisation of the school. In small departments for children of all ages the classes will be comparatively small. In "central schools" providing advanced instruction for older children it is not desirable that a class should be larger than 40. In other schools the board, in existing financial conditions, have not felt able to agree to schemes of staffing based upon a uniform standard of 40; but, in order not to prejudice the future, they have consented to the building of class-rooms which, according to the new Building Regulations of 1914, would accommodate 40 pupils, on the condition that it may prove necessary for a time that the classes using them should be somewhat larger.