Tabulated Reports, in detail, on Schools inspected by Rev. M. Mitchell-continued. 56 Buildings, boys fair, infants good. Furniture moderate, fair. Books, boys fair, infants moderate; apparatus 90 Buildings fair. Three parallel desks in one group, moderate; furniture moderate; small playground. 71 Buildings fair. Desks moderate, to be reconstructed; furniture and apparatus moderate; playground and 52 54 49 8 Sept. 201 13 Sept. 43 92 118 176 Buildings good; desks, books, discipline, and instruction moderate. Furniture and apparatus very moderate. Large playground. Organization, parallel desks. Methods usual. The room is an old grammar school. Master is fairly competent. 98 Buildings very good; desks parallel. Furniture and playground good. Books, apparatus, and discipline fair. Organization, five classes. Methods usual. Instruction moderately fair. The school-room and house are very excellent. 66 44 Buildings fair; desks very moderate round the room; furniture very imperfect; playground small. Books 50 Buildings fair, stone floor; desks, furniture, books, apparatus, and discipline moderate; playground on a 147 23 103150 Buildings, boys and girls good, infants fair; class-room small; desks, boys moderate, too large, and five deep; girls should to be refitted, infants gallery too high and large; furniture fair; playground, boys small yard, girls and infants amall. Books fair, infants moderate; apparatus, boys and girls good, infanta fair. Organis 134. St. John's Mixed, (Parochial) 135. Douglas, St. Bar 30 50 45 29 Sept. 56 15 nabas', Boys 30 Sept. 143 55 Girls 138 57 92 (115 153 81 138 170 " zation, boys and girls in squares, infants usual. Methods, boys usual, good; girls and infants usual. Discipline, boys and infants good, girls fair; instruction, boys good, girls and infants fair. The girls room is The infants school is in a different street. over the boys, and they are fair large rooms. Buildings, desks, furniture, playground, books, and apparatus fair. Organization, parallel and square. 75 130 Buildings good, too low, infants class-room wanted; desks, two groups of parallel; infants gallery too large; 4 Oct. 109 50 101 102 Buildings, desks (parellel), furniture, books, and apparatus fair; playground none. Organization in parallel 6 Oct. 171 40 40 140 Buildings good, too small for the number of children; desks round the room, and moderate; furniture and 100 Buildings too small; a new room is projected. Desks parallel, too large; furniture and discipline moderate; playground good, no apparatus. Books, apparatus, and instruction fair. Organization, parallel rows. 34 18 19 37 Methods usual. Discipline moderate. Buildings fair. Desks fair, round the room; furniture moderate; no playground. Books, apparatus, Buildings fair, a great echo. Desks, furniture, apparatus, discipline, and instruction fair; playground 86 150 Buildings good. Desks fair; furniture, apparatus, and discipline fair; playground fair, no apparatus. Books 78 Buildings and books fair. Desks parallel, moderate; furniture and apparatus, boys moderate, girls fair; play- 30 Buildings and books fair. Desks parallel, moderate; furniture, apparatus, and instruction moderate; 56 Buildings good. Desks moderate, parallel, two deep; furniture and apparatus moderate; playground none. Books, discipline, and instruction fair. Organization, parallel desks. Methods usual. Tabulated Reports, in detail, on Schools inspected by Rev. M. Mitchell-continued. 19 Oct. 83 52 20 Oct. 59 30 39 Attendance. 12 13 Buildings, books, and discipline fair. Desks moderate; furniture moderate; playground none. Apparatus moderate, maps good. Methods very moderate. It is a small school by the road side. Instruction very moderate. 80 Buildings fair. Desks very moderate, parallel, two deep; furniture, apparatus, discipline, and instruction very moderate; playground none. Books moderate. Organization, four classes. Methods very imperfect. 14 16 90 Buildings fair, too dark. Desks parallel, and ranged as in the British and Foreign; furniture, apparatus, and discipline moderate. Books fair. Organization, in long rows. Methods usual. The room is very dark, as none of the windows are entirely open to the sky. 22 28 15 91 60 Buildings good. Desks parallel, fair; furniture, books, and apparatus fair; playground good. Organization, parallel desks. Discipline very moderate; instruction moderate. It is a new school, very prettily situated. 45 Buildings good. Desks fair, parallel, three groups. Furniture, books, and apparatus fair. Playground none. Methods usual. Discipline moderate; instruction moderately fair. It is a good room with house attached. Buildings and furniture good, Desks parallel, good, four groups three deep. Playground, a small yard. Books and apparatus, fair; four classes. Methods usual. Discipline moderate. Instruction very moderate. It was originally a chapel, converted into a boys school, with a girls school above; two very good rooms. 244 39 Buildings and apparatus good. Desks parallel, two groups three deep. Furniture, playground, books, discipline, and instruction fair. Organization, parallel desks and squares. Methods usual. A large oblong room. 70 100 30 Buildings, moderately fair. Large parallel desks. Furniture and books very moderate; no playground. Apparatus fair. Organization in parallel desks. Methods usual. Discipline moderate. A fair-sized school, very moderately furnished. 53 Buildings, furniture, playground, books, and apparatus fair. Desks in parallel desks and squares. Methods usual, moderate. moderate. It is attached to a chapel, separated by folding doors. Buildings moderate, too dark; built with sea sand, and damp. Desks, furniture, apparatus, discipline, and instruction very moderate. Playground, with swing. Books most imperfect. Organization, three classes 00 50 in squares. Methods very mod General Report, for the Year 1852, by Her Majesty's Inspector of Schools, the Rev. J. J. BLANDFORD, B.A., &c., on the Schools inspected by him in the Counties of Derby, Lincoln, Nottingham, Leicester, Rutland, and Northampton. MY LORDS, I HAVE the honor to present to your Lordships a report on the schools which I have inspected between the 2nd of November 1851 and the 31st of October 1852. schools There are in my district 319 places where there are schools Number of which ought to be inspected every year, in consequence of the visited. managers having received money from the public funds, either towards the erection of the building, the improvement of the internal fittings, the purchase of books, or for the payment of pupil-teachers, or the augmentation salary of masters and mistresses. Of these 319 localities of schools thus liable to inspection I have only been able to visit 103 during the time mentioned above, leaving a remainder of 216, which, with the exception of nine, have not been inspected for two or three years; nor do I see any possibility of their being inspected, unless the aid of an Assistant Inspector be given to me. now re The inspection of a school, viewed in reference to the More time apprenticeship of pupil-teachers, the augmentation salary of quired for inspection of masters and mistresses, and, I am glad to say, their increased each school. efficiency, combined with a higher standard of instruction, involves a much greater outlay of time than formerly. A double school (one consisting of boys and girls under separate teachers) which, before the apprenticeship of pupil-teachers, might conveniently be inspected in one day, now frequently requires a day and a half or even two days, in order to collect sufficient evidence as to its real state, and as to the methods of instruction employed by its teachers. Such subjects as geography and grammar, in which, previously to the apprenticeship, instruction might have been given only to the first class, would now be taught in several classes; so that in a school consisting of eighty children, divided into four classes of twenty each, an Inspector would have, as it were, to examine four little schools of different degrees of proficiency, but still learning many of the subjects taught in the first class. It is a matter of rather general complaint that teachers are apt to neglect, or not to give a sufficient portion of their time to, the instruction of the lower classes; and it is easy to see that this Northamptonshire. [1852. tendency would be increased if, at the periodical inspection, they found the lower classes only slightly examined, from want of sufficient time. It is also discouraging to the apprentices who have been engaged in the lower part of the school, to be left under the impression that sufficient time has not been devoted by the Inspector to the examination of their respective classes, upon which they may have bestowed great care and attention. I have endeavoured in the two last years of my tours of inspection to ascertain the attainments of each class in a school, and in a great many instances have recorded my impressions in the tables appended to my general report, not merely as to the state of the school generally, but as to its details, by reporting on each class. I have thus been able, after an examination, to point out to the teachers, with greater accuracy and more authority, any deficiencies which may exist, and at subsequent examinations any improvements effected, not only in reference to the whole school, but also in regard to particular classes. It is now doubly of importance, where there are pupil-teachers, to see a school at work in its usual way, in its every-day dress,-and to observe the methods employed, in order to suggest, if necessary, alterations or improvements. It is not possible to do this at the same time that the actual examination of the children is being carried on. That will give the results of certain methods, but not the methods themselves; these latter are to be collected from quiet observation of the teachers who are conducting the school as usual. The services of an Assistant Inspector would be of much use in this district; the work would not be lighter on that account, but with this additional assistance much might be done which, without such aid, must of necessity be left undone, or, at the best, be done imperfectly. NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.-It will now be my duty to give to your Lordships an account of those schools which have been visited in the East Midland district, commencing with those inspected in Northamptonshire, and dating from November 1851. Seventeen schools have been examined in this county; there are no very large ones, but amongst the largest are those at Northampton. Considerable alterations and improvements are contemplated in the All Saints' schools, which, though doing well, are singularly ill-contrived as to their internal arrangements. The plan proposed is to throw the boys' and girls' school into one, and to build a new school for the latter; a better arrangement than this could not be devised, but it involves considerable outlay. Six pupil-teachers (three boys and three girls) have completed their apprenticeship in this school. New rooms are greatly needed also for the central school in this town. The present building is of an in |