Owing to the pressing claims of other official work, as well as to the fact that I have already exceeded my space limits in the Blue Book, I beg, with your Lordships' permission, to bring my Report for this year to a close here. Other topics of importance in connection with the state of education in the Western Division may, I trust, lie over for treatment upon a future occasion. I have the honour to be, my Lords, Your Lordships' obedient Servant, A. E. SCOUGAL T'o the Right Honourable the Lords of the Committee of Council on Education in Scotland. GENERAL REPORT for the Year 1901, by A. WALKER, ESQ., one of His Aberdeen, January, 1902. MY LORDS, I have the honour to present to your Lordships my fifth report on the Northern Division of Scotland. Its area is rather more than half that of the whole country; but as three-fifths of it is occupied by the thinly-peopled counties of Sutherland, Ross and Cromarty, and Inverness, it includes only about one-fourth of the population. The average school attendance is exactly 15 per cent., a satisfactory enough figure in view of the obstacles in the way of regularity in outlying districts. My own district of Aberdeen and Kincardine occupies less than oneseventh of the area of the Division, but contains one-third of its population, and has an average school attendance of 16 per cent. SCHOOL SUPPLY. Aberdeen Too many of the schools in the city of Aberdeen are still overcrowded, and admission on this ground has been refused to many applicants. City public In several cases the scholars are taught in rooms that were built for schools other purposes, or even in outside hired halls. The present School Board, however, are doing their best to atone for the shortcomings of some of their predecessors. The large and handsome Mile End School was opened in spring and occupied by the staff and scholars of Rosemount School, which is to be much enlarged. It is difficult to understand why the operations have not begun, and since that is the case why the school, which can accommodate well on for a thousand scholars, has, in view of the deficiency of school places, been allowed to stand empty for the greater part of a year. The additions to Torry School have been completed, and are a great improvement; the new infant department of Walker Road School will soon be ready for occupation; the belated doubling of Old Aberdeen School, which could much more cheaply have been made of the proper size at first, is going on; ground has been broken for the reconstruction of the school at Woodside, now out of date; properties have been purchased for a much needed enlargement of Frederick Street School; and new and commodious class-rooms in Skene Square School are now in use. It should not be necessary to repeat what has been said in former reports about the proper balancing of departments. Some of the schools have not room for infants enough to give sufficient numbers for the classes above. St. Francis R. C. School has been discontinued, and the scholar Voluntary with a new and improved staff, have been transferred to the handsome schools. and suitable new Cathedral R. C. School. The buildings of the Normal School of the U.F.C. Training College, which for many years have been Aberdeen Unsuitable Schools. Heating. Ventilation. Offices. Heating of Schools. pronounced to be inadequate, are to be replaced by new and much enlarged premises, the plans for which are now ready. St. Margaret's Episcopal School has been very much improved by the addition of new class-rooms and a new access from the street. The most has been made of the somewhat unpromising site. In Fraserburgh an infant school, to accommodate 500, has been built to relieve the pressure on the Public School; the rooms in Fraserburgh Academy have been rearranged, a well-equipped laboratory established, and the junior department discontinued. New premises have been built for Balmedie, Kinnord, and Raemoir Public Schools, and for Catterline Episcopal School. Additions, by way of new classrooms or otherwise, have been made to the schools at Aboyne, Barras, Berefold, Burnhaven, Echt, Finzean, Memsie, St. Combs, Shannas, Torphins, and Waterton. Minor improvements, such as new desks, new floors, shifting of partitions for a better distribution of floor space, new lobbies, sheds, and offices have been made in many schools which it is unnecessary to name. As, in the opinion of too many of them, the primary function of the member of a small country School Board is to save the rates, it is only after threatened or actual deduction of grant that many of these im provements have been made. The cases of unnecessary multiplication of schools noticed in last report still subsist, and there are unsuitable buildings here and there. Strathdon School, e.g., is quite out of date, and should be amalgamated with its neighbour at Forbeston. Aberarder School, in Braemar district, is kept in a small church, very uncomfortable and unsuitable for school purposes. Some schools, even some of the palatial town schools, are not well heated. One room is uncomfortably hot, while another may be many degrees below the proper temperature. The fireplace is often too small and not in the best place. Good work cannot be got out of scholars when the air is not much above freezing point. Ventilation, too, is often defective. There is a hole in the wall to let good air in, and a hole in the ceiling to let bad air out; but as the outside air persists in coming down through the roof in a solid column, the opening is shut, and all movement of air stopped as far as possible. Nor does the mechanical ventilation in the large town schools always prove as efficient as it was expected to be. Attention has still to be called to the necessity for more stringent supervision of the outside premises. They are often too near the schoolrooms or the teacher's house, and are not often enough cleaned. In many cases also there is not a sufficient water supply for the school. As these are matters directly affecting the public health they should be under the supervision and control of the officers in charge of that important branch of the public service. Dr. Watt, the energetic officer of Public Health, has shown the utmost readiness to inquire into any cases to which his attention has been called, but it is felt that these matters should be part of the regular work of his staff. Mr. Macleod: Architectural device for heating school-rooms has not been successful. The solitary grate, even for a small room, is absurdly inadequate in moderately cold weather, and with our lowest temperatures is next to useless. The average winter temperature of Morayshire class-rooms varies from 35 degrees to 45 degrees, whereas it should never descend, when pupils are present, below 55 degrees or 60 degrees. The matter can be stated in a sentence or two, but the serious consequences are wide-injury to health, diminution of nerve force, and waste of teachers' efforts to educate when the mind is not in a fit state to do its part. Mr. Muir : No new schools have been opened, and, apparently, none are needed. The half-time schools in Arbroath and Montrose have been closed, and the scholars have drifted to other schools. I would not have been inclined to approve of this, but for the expectation that half-timers will shortly vanish off the face of the earth. Lochside Public School, Montrose, a Junior Elementary School, has also been closed. There seems to be sufficient accommodation in the other schools for those set adrift. In Brechin the Infant Department of the Tenements School is terribly overcrowded, but by judicious re-distribution this may be put a stop to. In Kirriemuir more accommodation for infants is needed, and plans are being submitted. In Lerwick better accommodation is being provided for the Central Public School. Mr. Calder: As No addition has been made to the school accommodation in Dundee. Dundee In several parts of the city this has led to admission being refused to infants under five years of age, and to older pupils having to go a considerable distance from their homes to find school accommodation. a consequence also, unsatisfactory learners or irregular attenders, if absent a short time, are very apt to be turned adrift by being told there is no room in the school for them when they wish to return to it. Such a state of matters is far from satisfactory. So far as I can learn, the School Board has as yet started no movement, either for the extension of any of the existing schools or for the erection of new ones, although the need in some districts of the city is becoming urgent. In the case of one of the denominational schools in the northern part of the city, the managers are considering the feasibility of raising funds to add a class-room that would accommodate about 100 pupils. Outside Dundee four schools have had new infant rooms added, each County capable of accommodating from 45 to 80; and there is now everywhere in the district, except in Dundee, an ample supply of school places for all the children that can be expected to attend. Mr. Robertson : The admirable enlargement of the Central Public School, Inverness, Inverness, is now in full occupation, and with very manifest advantage to the general working of this flourishing school. After long consideration, the Burgh School Board, in conjunction with the County Committee and the Town Council-to which the Burgh's share of the Customs and Excise Grant is directly allotted-decided to erect a large annexe, a wood and iron structure, for the teaching of Science and Art subjects, both for the pupils of the High School and the classes so long and successfully carried on directly under the management of the Town Council. The School Board could not very confidently for the present face the question of a large technical school, and I consider the present temporary arrangement a very reasonable one in the circumstances of the Burgh and district. The equipment of the annexe will be of the most modern character, and will, in view of the County Committee's contribution, be available for any special instruction, particularly under Art. 91 (d) of the Code, of Rural County Pupils or Teachers. In Lewis a large Infant School, in connection with the Nicolson Insti- Lewis. tute, is projected. The question of a central technical school for that island is still in abeyance, and is not likely to be seriously tackled until Extension of Pulteneytown Academy, Other structures and erections. and permanent overcrowd ing. external aid of a very substantial kind be assured. Local resources are severely strained by the demands of elementary education, and it is quite impossible for the Boards in the hinterland of Lewis to give any material assistance to such a central technical school as the undoubted circumstances of the island so urgently call for. There, however, they live in hope, and according to some of optimistic temperament, the hope may not be long deferred. In the rest of the district, barring some trifling changes in the 19 D (a) provision, there is little to report. Mr. Munro Fraser : In town, as well as in rural districts, the school supply, as calculated on the old eight square feet allowance, is fairly complete. The Pulteneytown Academy and the South Public School, Wick, are exceptional cases. Considerable delay has occurred through lack of unanimity on the part of the School Board responsible for these schools, but a definite and decided step has at last been taken, which will, it is hoped, result in the early commencement of building operations. In Thurso provision has been made for the teaching of Science, and it is expected that the Secondary Department of Pulteneytown Academy will soon have its laboratory and its scientific side. Wick will perhaps be able to provide a room for Manual Instruction. A covered shelter has been erected as an annexe to Dingwall Academy, and further action in the same direction is contemplated. A new Public School at Fanagmore (which takes the place of a 19 D (a) school) was inspected last year for the first time. The building of this school is an indication of increased population in a rural district. Additions have been made to Balmuchy Public School, Fearn, and to Embo Public School, near Dornoch. The school population in many Highland parishes is of a distinctly Temporary migratory character. Where overcrowding of a room is clearly due to temporary causes, it has not been considered necessary to demand an immediate extension of school premises. In cases of evident and continuous overcrowding, School Boards have usually been found amenable to reason, and here and there one finds public opinion prepared for even more liberal action than the responsible authorities. It is only fair to state, however, that the Highland crofter has not much to pay by way of school rate in comparison with the shooting tenant or large proprietor. In the years which immediately followed the Education Act of 1872, insufficient attention appears to have been given to the size of class-rooms intended for the lower sections (Infants and Juniors) of country schools. From a similar lack of forethought, perhaps pardonable under the circumstances, the cloak-room accommodation of several schools is somewhat scanty. Improvements will, no doubt, take place, and they will be hastened by the presence on School Boards of men of enlightened views and of strong character. Possible improvements. Banffshire. Ruthven. Mr. Wattie : In Banffshire there is a very creditable year's record of activity on the part of boards and managers in bringing the school supply of the county more fully abreast of modern requirements. For the larger schools the most approved type of building, in which the class-rooms are arranged round a central hall, is being gradually adopted. It was first introduced into the county some years ago by the Aberlour Board, and it is gratifying to be able to report that in the course of the past year three other schools have been built or re-constructed on this principle. The additions to the three schools of Buckie, Findochty, and Portknockie, under the Rathven Board, which were in course of erection at the date of last report, are now completed. An additional class-room for the Infant Department of the Portknockie School is still needed, and this final item in the work of school extension in this parish will probably be taken in |