Εικόνες σελίδας
PDF
Ηλεκτρ. έκδοση

of becoming acquainted, under the guidance of efficient teachers, with the rudiments of other subjects, the study of which, if duly followed up, after they leave college, cannot fail to be of use to them in their future career.

Drawing.-The number of students examined in drawing in 1877 was 2,739, of whom 1,731 passed the examination successfully.

Science. A considerable number (643) of the candidates for admission to training colleges examined at Midsummer 1877 received credit for previous success at the May examinations in science, as is shown by the following table :

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][subsumed][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Many of the candidates had passed in more than one subject, which accounts for the excess of the number of passes over that of candidates.

Language.-As regards languages, introduced into the admission examination for the first time in 1874, the number of papers worked at Midsummer, 1877, was as follows:

[blocks in formation]

The first object of the Education Act of 1870 was to secure a supply of suitable school accommodation sufficient to meet the requirements of the country. We have shown how far this object had been accomplished by the end of the past year, in schools receiving annual aid, without taking into account the large number of schools, more or less efficient,* which are not yearly visited by our inspectors. In the year ending 31st of August, 1877, the number of board schools increased from 1,604 to 2,089; while the accommodation in these schools rose from 556,539 to 705,122; and the average attendance from 333,234 to 435,335.

The list of school boards, and the abstracts of their accounts, printed in the Appendix show the objects for which the existing school boards have been set up, and whether their formation has been compulsory or voluntary.

The population of England and Wales in 1871 was—

1. In the Metropolitan District...

2. In 223+ municipal boroughs.

3. In 14,094 civil parishes.

3,266,987

6,512,611

12,932,668

22,712,266

Act of 1870, Section 37.-1. The formation of a school board for London was prescribed by the Act of 1870.

*We leave out of consideration, for the present year, the new class of "certified efficient schools" recognised by the Act of 1876. We have received 269 applications from schools of this character. In 110 cases we have granted, and in 39 refused, a certificate of the remainder; 100 are under reference to the inspectors, and 21 still under consideration.

Several new municipal boroughs have been formed since that date.

Including 238 parishes partly within and partly without municipal boroughs, the extra municipal parts of these parishes being under the Act treated as separate districts.

Ibid, Section 12 (1).-2. Boards have been established in 123 boroughs, with a population of 5,592,385. In 18 of these the election was compulsory, to supply a deficiency which could not be met without the aid of rates. In the remaining 105 cases the election was ordered on the voluntary application of the municipal authorities.

The following statement shows the proportion of the urban population which has been placed under the jurisdiction of school boards. According to the last census there are 13 towns in England, with a population exceeding 100,000. All of these towns have boards. There are 21 towns whose population ranges from 50,000 to 100,000. All of these have boards, except Preston (85,427); and there are 69 towns with a population between 20,000 and 50,000, of which 47 have, and 22* have not, school boards.

3. Of 1,736 school boards in towns (unincorporated) and rural district, 882 have been elected under compulsory orders from the Department, 55 were elected to meet deficiencies caused by the closing of schools by the managers; while the remaining 799 have been called into existence by the voluntary application of the ratepayers.

During the year ending 31st March, 1878, we have issued 756 orders for the triennial elections of school boards, and two for the dissolution of the school boards of Great Addington (county of Northampton) and Waldron (county of Sussex), under the 41st section of the Act of 1876. Since the passing of that Act some 800 casual vacancies on school boards have, under the 44th section, been filled up by the remaining members of the board, instead of by the costly proceedings attendant on a bye election by the whole body of the ratepayers.

4. The population under (1859) school boards may be summed up thus :

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

The inquiry into the school provision available, or in course of being supplied, for the whole population of England and Wales, was completed in the spring of 1872, since which time the Department has been busily engaged in issuing notices, under sections 9, 41, &c., of the Education Act, in all the districts in which school boards have not been voluntarily formed, setting forth the amount of the efficient accommodation already provided in each district, and the deficiency, if any, which has to be made up, either by voluntary effort, or, failing that, by the compulsory election of school boards.

II. SCHOOL ATTENDANCE COMMITTEES.

The Elementary Education Act of 1876, which came into operation on the 1st of January, 1877, provides for the appointment of a school attendance committee for every borough and parish for which a school board has not been elected.

We find that school attendance committees have been appointed in all the municipal boroughs (109) which are not under the jurisdiction of school boards, and in all those unions (582) of which any portion was not under the jurisdiction of a school board. We have, further, under the 33rd section of the Act of 1876, issued 73 orders authorising urban sanitary authorities to appoint school attendance committees for the parishes under the jurisdiction of these authorities, to the exclusion of the school attendance committees appointed by the guardians of the unions comprising these parishes.

* These are Accrington, Bilston, Birkenhead, Bury, Cambridge, Chatham, Cheltenham, Chester, Colchester, Dover, Gorton, Heywood, Leamington, Lincoln, Over Darwen, St. Helens, Shrewsbury, Torquay, Tottenham, Warrington, West Derby, York.

In addition to the list of districts under school boards we have printed in the Appendix a list giving the names of all boroughs, urban sanitary districts, and unions which have formed school attendance committees up to 1st April, 1878.

The total population under school attendance committees is therefore :

[blocks in formation]

By the 1st of April, 1878, bye-laws‡ for enforcing the attendance of children at school had been sanctioned by Your Majesty, in accordance with the terms of the Acts of 1870 (sec. 74) and 1876 (sec. 21), on the application of the school boards of—

[blocks in formation]

It will thus be seen that the population actually under bye-laws amounts to 13,517,585, and if to this we add the districts whose bye-laws have been submitted and will shortly receive the sanction of Your Mejesty in Council, the total will amount to more than fifteen millions of the population.

By comparing these figures with those quoted on pages xxiii. and xxiv. it appears. that compulsory attendance at school, under bye-laws, is the law for 60 per cent of the whole population of England and Wales, and for about 90 per cent of the whole borough population. As regards the population not in boroughs, a table appended to this report shows, for each county in England and Wales, the number of parishes under school boards, and the number of these parishes which have bye-laws. The work of the school attendance committees, under this head, is further shown by columns giving the number of unions and separate parishes for which bye-laws have, up to this time, been sanctioned.

Appendix. To meet a large number of applications which have been addressed to us, we have framed and published in the Appendix a set of model bye-laws, which contain, we believe, all that is essential for carrying out the requirements of the Education Acts under this head, and for securing the attendance of children at school under simple and uniform conditions.

* Of which nine have been incorporated since 1871.

† Of which one has been incorporated since 1871.

In the Appendix will be found a list of all the places for which bye-laws have been sanctioned during the year ending 1st April, 1878, showing the limits of age, the distance excuse, and the standards adopted for total and partial exemption. The bye-laws themselves have not been printed in extenso this year, as they follow one of two models (which we publish with the list) with variations only in the particulars we have specified. § Out of 123 in which school boards have been elected. Out of 2,432 in which school boards have been elected. 1,735 boards, of whom 873 have passed bye-laws.

These parishes are comprised in

ACCOUNTS OF SCHOOL BOARDS.

Up to the 29th September, 1877 (the close of the year for which the accounts have to be made up for audit), the school boards in England numbered 1,560, and in Wales 263, viz. :—

[blocks in formation]

Of these 1,426 in England and 234 in Wales sent to the Department statements of receipts and expenditure for the year ending Michaelmas, 1877, as prescribed by section 62 of the Elementary Education Act, 1870; 110 had neither received nor paid money during the year under review; and 13, whose accounts have been audited, failed to send to the Department a copy of the statement of the receipts and expenditure. We regret to find that the accounts of 60 boards had not been audited in sufficient time to be included in this report.

INCOME.

The total sum received by the 1,426 boards in England, copies of whose accounts were sent in, was £3,301,898, as compared with £2,695,644 (received by 1,267 boards) in the previous year; or, excluding loans for works of a permanent character, £1,573,080, as compared with £1,178,946; whilst the sum received by 234 boards in Wales was £197,757, as compared with £179,727 (received by 219 boards) in the previous year; or, excluding loans, £106,138, as compared with £90,654.

The proportions which the several sources of income, excluding loans for works of a permanent character, bear to the total income for each of the three years, 1874-5, 1875-6, and 1876-7 are given in the following table.

[blocks in formation]

The proportion of the total receipts raised by loans in each of the three years

[blocks in formation]

The reduction in the percentage of loans shows that many of the school boards have nearly completed the preliminary work of supplying the deficiency in the school accommodation of their districts.

ANNUAL GRANTS.

Grants for the maintenance of schools were paid to 845 boards in England, and to 167 boards in Wales, being an increase of 243 in England and 34 in Wales, over the number to which grants were paid in 1875-6; the sum paid being £316,455, as against £206,197 in 1875-6.

RATES.

Education Act, 1870, ss. 53 and 54.-The deficiencies in the "school fund”
required to be met by the rating authorities out of the local rate, and paid by them
to the treasures of school boards during the years ending at Michaelmas, 1875-7,

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Those sums represent an average rate per £ on the rateable value of the districts.

[blocks in formation]

The following tables show the number of boroughs and parishes which paid rates
varying from less than 1d. in the £ to 1s. and above, the number of boroughs and
parishes which paid rates of 3d. and upwards and less than 3d. in the £, and the
percentage which each class bears to the whole number :-

[blocks in formation]

1875. 1876. 1877. 1875. | 1876. | 1877. 1875. | 1876. | 1877. 1875. | 1876. | 1877.

[blocks in formation]

Of 18. and above..

Percentage.

1875. 1876. 1877. 1875. 1876. 1877. 1875. 1876. 1877. 1875. 1876. 1877.

Parishes.

Numbers.

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

41 18.9 22.9 18.7

[blocks in formation]
« ΠροηγούμενηΣυνέχεια »