[School-Building Form No. 5.]

INSTRUCTIONS as to the preparation of the DRAFT of the TRUST Deed, in order that it may be submitted to the Committee of Council, for the approval of their Counsel, before the deed is engrossed.

The attention of the solicitor is directed to the Acts for facilitating the Conveyance of School Sites (4 and 5 Vict., c. 38, and 7 and 8 Vict., c. 37), published in the 1st volume of Minutes for 1844, sent herewith. A lithographed Form of Trust Deed and a Management Clause are also transmitted.

Privy Council Office, Downing-street.

1. The legal estate of any school, connected with the Church of England, should be vested in one or more corporate bodies who are competent, under the 4 and 5 Vict., c. 38, to hold the trust in perpetuity. That section creates a peculiar corporate body who may hold this estate, and under sections 4 and 5 of the 7 and 8 Vict., c. 37, the minister and churchwardens may be, and are commonly appointed to hold the legal estate. By the 5th clause of the 7 and 8 Vict., c. 37, the rector, vicar, or perpetual curate of any parish may grant land, being part of his glebe, &c., to the minister and churchwardens, or to the minister, churchwardens, and overseers, as a site for a school, with the consent of the patron of the benefice and of the bishop of the diocese, although he apparently makes the grant to himself.

2. The conveyance must declare the school to be held in trust for the education of the poor, and for no other purpose whatever.

Although, under the School Sites Acts, the premises cannot be applied to any other purpose than that of a school for the poor, and consequently no other trust can be set forth in the deed; it would doubtless be considered that if the buildings were occasionally and temporarily applied to some other similar purpose, provided the school be not interfered with, or injured thereby, the object and purpose of the statute would not be defeated, and the Committee of Council would not raise any objection to such application.

3. The constitution of the managers of the school should be distinctly declared in the deed. Their Lordships have sent with the form of deed a management clause, which they consider suited to the condition of your school. This is one of five clauses: four of which relate to National schools, and have been approved by the ecclesiastical authorities; and the fifth of which relates to British schools.

4. When the draft of the deed has been prepared it must be forwarded to this office, in order that it may be submitted to their Lordships' counsel for his perusal, before the deed is engrossed.

5. When the draft has been perused and returned, approved by their Lordships' counsel, it may be engrossed on parchment with a proper stamp and executed by the proper parties. It must then be acknowledged by one of the parties to the deed before a Master Extraordinary in Chancery, and enrolled in conformity with the provision of the Mortmain Acts within six calendar months after its execution. In the register counties the deed should be registered.

Where the grant is gratuitous and the deed is in the form suggested by the 4 and 5 Vict., c. 38, sec. 10, the stamp will be a common deed stamp of 35s., unless the length require the progressive duty. When the site is purchased, of course the ad valorem duty must be paid.

6. Where any ecclesiastical corporation sole, below the dignity of a bishop, grants any land, there must be a certificate by three beneficed clergymen of the diocese as to the extent of the land endorsed on the deed, and until there be such certificate the deed can have no validity. The forin of the certificate is set forth in the 4 and 5 Vict., c. 37, s. 13. 7. A copy of the deed, together with the signatures, attestations, and receipts, and the endorsement of the enrolment and registration, and of the certificate where required, must then be made on plain parchment; and the draft approved by their Lordships' counsel, together with the original deed, and this copy must be sent to the Council Office for examination, in order that the copy may be permanently deposited there for reference. The deed and approved draft will be returned.

[School-Building Forms No. 7.]

INSTRUCTIONS to the ARCHITECT or BUILDER Employed by the PROMOTERS of the SCHOOL.

Privy Council Office, Downing-street.

THEIR Lordships require the FOLLOWING PLANS, which, when approved and stamped, may be returned for use, but must be finally deposited in the Council Office.

1.-A PLAN OF THE SITE, drawn to scale. This Plan must show

a. The position of the (1) school-buildings; (2) out-buildings; (3) privies.

b. The drains.

c. Boundary-walls, or fences.

d. Entrances.

e. Roads.

The privies for boys and girls should be completely separated, at least by a dust-bin, or other sufficient obstacle to sound as well as sight. They must be provided with a sufficient supply of water to cleanse them thoroughly. Their drainage should be effected by earthen-pipes, glazed inside, of 3 or 4 inches diameter, properly cemented at the joints, and trapped. The syphon soil-pans for cheap water-closets may now be obtained for 25s. or 30s. a-piece. The seats should be separated one from the other by partitions of slate or wood. The doors and passages, from the schoolroom to the privies for the two sexes should also be distinct.

N.B.-It is very desirable that there should be at least one playground for the scholars, one acre of ground may be conveyed under the School Sites Act; and, when the facilities of that Act are not required, any extent of ground may be conveyed as a site for a school.

2.-A GROUND PLAN of the school-buildings.

a. In this Plan, the position of the desks and benches in the schoolroom must be shown. The attention of the architect is requested to the plans and arrangements of desks and benches, published in their Lordships' Minutes (vol. i. 1844). Groups of

desks and benches, arranged according to these plans are particularly requisite in schools in which pupil teachers are to be apprenticed. To place the scholars at a desk along the walls of the school, and with their backs to the master, is unfavourable to discipline and instruction. A section of the form, and size of the groups of desks and benches is appended, for the use of the architect; and a sketch taken from the school at Battersea is added.

b. This Plan, should also show the position of the fire-places or stoves and the situation of the air-drains and valves by which fresh air is admitted under the floor, to discharge the warm and impure air in the room by gratings in the ceiling and valvular openings in the gable. A description of this plan of ventilation is given herewith.

c. There should be no communication between the schoolroom and the master's house.

A lobby, or closet, for cloaks and caps, and a class-room, are desirable.

The class-rooms should never be passage-rooms from one part of the building to another, or from the schoolroom to the play-ground or yards.

e. In arranging the schoolrooms, at least one main wall should be kept free from fire-places, &c., so that groups of benches and desks in lengths of from 9 to 12 feet each, with alleys of 2 feet between each group, may be ranged along the whole line of such

wall.

3. ELEVATIONS OF THE BUILDINGS AND SECTIONS. The ceiling and the ventilation must be shown.

4.-SPECIFICATIONS OF THE WORKS. In the preparation of which the following particulars must be borne in mind.

a. The whole of the external walls of the school and house, if of brick, must be at least one brick and a-half in thickness; and if of stone, at least 18 inches in thickness.

b. The walls of every schoolroom, ceiled at the level of the wallplate, must be at least 12 feet high from the level of the floor to the ceiling; and if the area contain more than 360 superficial square feet, 13 feet; and if more than 600, then 14 feet.

The walls of every schoolroom ceiled to the rafters and collarbeam must be at least 11 feet high from the floor to the wall-plate, and at least 14 feet to the ceiling across the collar-beam.

If the roof be unceiled to the plate and collar, there must be ceiling to or between the rafters.

If there be not a lantern for the ventilation of each room, the gable must have a louvre opening for the escape of foul air; and, in a ceiled room, the ceiling must have openings with air-grates. The chimneys should be fitted with Dr. Arnott's ventilators. c. All the roofs must be tied or slated.

d. Gutters and drains to carry the roof-water away from the foundations must be provided.

e. The floors must be of wood.

f. Curtains, if used as a separation between schoolrooms, should

be double, in order to intercept sound; if wooden partitions be used, they should also be made double, and the void space should be filled in with saw-dust.

g. When a residence for the master or mistress is included in the plan, their Lordships will not make their maximum grant unless the house contain, at least, one sitting room, a kitchen, and a scullery, as well as three bed-rooms.

The smallest dimensions which their Lordships would approve,

are

For the sitting-room

For the kitchen

For each bed-room

12 feet by 12 feet.

12 feet by 10 feet.

9 feet by 8 feet.

5. ESTIMATES IN DETAIL of the whole of the works, signed by the architect or builder.

The following questions must be answered by the builder or architect, and then signed by him, as well as by the gentleman authorized to correspond with their Lordships on behalf of the promoters of the school.

The Site.

1. Are any vitriol works, tanneries, size manufactories, slaughterhouses, or other noxious trades situated near the site?

2. Is it in the neighbourhood of any undrained marsh or swampy ground; any ditch, uncovered drain, or stagnant pool?

3. State their thickness.

SCHOOL BUILDINGS.

External Walls.

4. The materials of which they are to be built.

5. Are they to be plastered internally?

6. State the height of the walls of each of the schoolrooms.

7. State the height of the ceiling from the floor.

Windows.

8. The material of the casements or window-frames.

9. The nature of the opening to admit air.

Roof.

10. State the size of the timber and joists, and the nature of the

wood used.

11. Will the roof be tiled or slated?

12. Of what material will the gutters and spouts be made?

Floor.

13. At what height above the internal ground will it be boarded?

Ventilation.

14. State in what manner the schoolroom is to be ventilated and warmed. (See 8vo edition of the Minutes of the Committee of Council for 1844.)

15. What is the estimated cost of the erection? State separately the following particulars.

1. The cost of the site.

2. The cost of the drainage.

3. The cost of the boundary walls, and outbuildings.

4. The cost of the schoolrooms.

5. The cost of the master's house.

6. The cost of the desks, benches, and other internal fittings

of the schoolrooms.

7. The cost of the privies or water-closets.

8. Any other expenses connected with the buildings.

(Signed)

(Builder or Architect, on behalf of the Promoters of

VENTILATION.-Explanation of Engraving.

A A are gratings communicating by a passage through the external wall, with a space under the floor of the apartment; B is a valvular opening by which the supply of fresh air to the room can at any time be regulated, the valve being turned for that purpose, so as to enlarge or diminish the extent of the aperture in the floor. There will be two or more of these in each schoolroom, according to its size. C is a valvular opening in the ceiling, which, by means of a key fixed on the extremity of a rod or pole, or by a pulley, may, in the same manner, be turned, so as to regulate the size of the channel through which the warm impure air escapes into the space between the ceiling and the roof; E E indicate strata of air between the slates or tiles and the ceiling, by which the too rapid transmission of heat or cold through the roof into the apartment by radiation will be impeded. At F are air-grates in the gable of the building, through which the warm air escapes. By means of the valves, B and C, the current of air supplying the apartment may be at all times regulated, or may be at any moment stopped. In a building of two stories the arrangements for ventilation are of the same character, though they differ slightly in detail. In the annexed woodcut, No. 2, a boys' schoolroom is shown on the ground-floor, and a girls' schoolroom in the first story. A and G are the external air-grates, by which cold pure air enters at B and D, through the valvular openings in the floors into each apartment respectively. At C C the warm air escapes through valvular openings in or near the ceilings. The communication between the cold air-grate G and the valve D will be provided by allowing the air to pass between two joists of the floor. A flue should be carried from the foul-air valve C of the boys' room along the wall into the open space in the roof. At F are air-grates in the gable of the building, through which the warm air escapes.

If the thermometer-stove be used, a flue three inches square in the wall of the apartment, without any protection, is sufficient; no fireplace is required, nor any external chimney. If the flue in the wall be not made when the building is erected, an iron pipe, three inches and a half in diameter, may be carried up the wall of the school through the