7 p.m. Each lesson should last 30 to 45 minutes, one hour being too long for girls under fourteen. A good division of the morning work is as under:-- Any mathematical subject, especially for little children, should come first, or after a refreshing lesson such as Singing or Handwork. Latin should come when the girls are pretty fresh. The girls are under supervision all day, but there is a good deal of latitude; e.g., in the playground a girl may work at her garden or a few may start a game of their own. In the boarding houses the girls have some time every day when they can do as they please, though a mistress is present. Slight ailments are nursed in a sick room, others in one or other of two separate buildings, reserved the one for the nursing of infectious and the other for that of non-infectious complaints. 3. ORGANISED OUTDOOR GAMES, &C. The head mistress experiences no opposition on the part of parents to compulsory games, nor has she, in five years, known of a serious accident arising from them. Compulsoriness of games is modified in favour of individual girls who possess pronounced tastes. of an open-air but non-athletic order. Outdoor exercise in wet weather is insisted on in the case of healthy girls. but there is much opposition to this on the part of parents of daypupils. The playground dress is the gymnasium dress with a warm jersey for winter and a thin woollen blouse for summer. One mistress is occupied almost exclusively with the playground and gymnasium. Other mistresses, but not nearly all, assist. The games mistress was trained by a cricket professional. In summer one hour a day, on an average, is devoted to compulsory cricket, and in winter one hour a day, on an average, to compulsory basket ball, played indoors or out, according to weather. All girls who bathe learn to swim. In 1899, 82 per cent. bathed, and of those who bathed, 90 per cent. could swim at the end of July. 4. SCHOOL LIBRARY AND GIRLS' PRIVATE READING. There is a small school library, of which all the books are in constant use. Each house has its own library besides. Restrictions are placed upon the admission of newspapers and periodicals into the school, and a list of what may be sent is supplied to parents. All new books are brought by the girls to the 4333. 2K 4 head mistress at the beginning of each term, and no book is allowed into the play room which is not initialled by her. There is a regular system of reading aloud, two sets having reading aloud every evening. In the opinion of the head mistress, girls are in more danger of growing up without literary taste now than they were when books were not so abundant and cheaply produced. 5. SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. There is a head girl for each boarding house, and one for the day-girls. These are the heads of the school, performing certain duties week about, but always enjoying certain privileges. There is no corporal punishment. "Lines" are not set. There is practically no "keeping in." Fines are used for untidiness only. Punishment is not often used, the usual form is deprivation of certain extra pleasures. A playground mistress, assisted by two or three others, is always present in the playground at games hours. At work there is always supervision. In the houses there is a head of each dormitory, and the girls are under the supervision of the housekeeper when getting up or going to bed. There is generally supervision in the play room. Restrictions are set on the spending of pocket-money. The girls write shopping lists, which the house mistress sees. The girls never go into shops. Buying and selling, and borrowing and lending money, are forbidden. Hampers are not allowed, birthday cakes being the only indulgence of this kind. The girls have three regular meals a day, with light luncheon and supper. The only "exeats" allowed are when parents come to stay in the place. Girls may then go to them from Saturday to Monday. Two or three girls at a time may pay visits to friends, unaccompanied by a mistress. Day-girls, except little ones, go about alone. The school books are the property of the girls, but the school buys them back when done with, if in good condition. APPENDIX. The following papers of questions were circulated in 1899 among Preparatory School Headmasters, and on the replies received the greater number of the reports printed in this volume have been based :: I. CURRICULUM. 1. What subjects are taught to all boys in the same form? Are they reclassified for (a) Greek? (b) French? (c) Mathematics? 2. At what point do you begin Latin? 3. Have you tried the experiment of teaching French before Latin? If so, with what results to boys' intellectual development? 4. In teaching French (or German) do you adopt a method which as far as possible makes use of the foreign spoken tongue from the first and throughout? 5. Do you substitute German for Greek in the case of boys destined for a modern side? 6. At what point in the School Curriculum do you begin Greek (or German)? 7. Are you in favour of postponing Greek till the Public School is reached? (a) For all boys alike? (b) For all except the clever boys? In the latter case at what point would you begin Greek? 8. Do you lay stress on the training of hand and eye and ear by teaching all boys (a) Drawing? (6) Carpentering? (c) Singing? 9. Under the ead of English what proportion of time do you devote respectively to (a) Spelling and Dictation? (6) Original Composition and Reproduction? (c) Language (grammar, word-formation &c.)? (d) Literature? 10. Is elementary Science taught in your school? State whether in the form of Object Lessons, Botany, Physics, &c. 11. Do you allow any boys to specialise with a view to preparing for Scholarship Examinations? If so, what change do you make in your time-tables in the case of these boys? 12. Do you allow intervals of play between all your periods of class work, and if so, how long are these intervals? 13. What is the ordinary length of each class-lesson ? |