§ Mr. BROADasked the President of the Board of Education whether he has received a protest against the proposed closing of the Fore Street Council School, Ilfracombe; whether such school is computed to be a necessary school under the Education Act of 1902, Clause 9, which provides that a school for the time being recognised as a public elementary school shall not be considered unnecessary in which the number of scholars in average attendance, as computed by the Board of Education, is not less than 30; and whether he is prepared to withhold his consent to the closing of such school?
§ Mr. FISHERI have not been able at short notice to identify the Fore Street Council School. The Board have received a protest from some inhabitants of Ilfracombe against proposals to convert one public elementary council school into a central school and another into a secondary school, on the ground that younger children displaced may have to attend voluntary schools. The Board are informing the local education authority that the latter proposal does not commend itself to them, and the former proposal is still under consideration.