NOTES ON SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION. 675 



where there is one department common to boys and girls, with a 

 separate one for infants. There is no doubt that this latter system 

 is the better. The infants' department should always be connected 

 with a primary school. This arrangement allows of the infants 

 having the protection of their bigger brothers and sisters in going 

 to school. Such separate buildings must materially add to the cost 

 of construction. In other cases we find a big frontage to the street 

 and the premises are increased by building wings at right angles ; 

 this encroaches on and decreases the size of the playground, and 

 there is always a waste of space. In order to make allowance for 

 good light to the classrooms in the new wings, it is necessary that 

 they are built some distance away from the sides of the school 

 boundary. It would be impossible to build up to the alignment 

 unless there is a street or lane, in which case there would be a 

 nuisance caused by dust and the noise of traffic. 



The building should be as far as possible from the street, and 

 so constructed that the departments in the school and in the play- 

 grounds can be made quite distinct. Allowance should be made 

 that the building can be started in the shape of the letter " I " 

 running parallel with the street some distance away ; then it can 

 be expanded by converting the " I " into a " T," and later on into 

 an " H." This would safeguard the light and minimise the en- 

 croachment on the playground, besides separating the boys and 

 girls in the playground. Such additions will not interfere with the 

 lighting and ventilation of the existing class rooms. The planning 

 of the room should be simple. It should be oblong in shape, with 

 the sides in the proportion of 6-5. Every child should have an 

 allowance of 15 square feet ; the average in this State is 10 square feet. 

 This is much too little, considering the very mild climate. The 

 number in the class should be limited to 30. It is the opinion of 

 up-to-date educationalists that it is impossible to teach and super- 

 vise more than 30 childien ; such a number would require a super- 

 ficial area of 450 square feet, the teacher would require another 

 15 feet, and 15 feet could be allowed for the space taken up by the 

 furniture ; this would total 480 square feet, and remembering the 

 proportion of 6-5, would represent a room 24 feet in length and 

 20 feet in breadth. As every child requires 200 cubic feet of air 

 space, this will give the height of the room as 13 feet. The above 

 proportions are most suitable for light and sound. 



Great attention is now given to the cleaning of the classrooms. 

 Elsewhere I have pointed out that more stress should be laid on the 

 prevention of dust entering and collecting in the school. Most of 

 the dust is introduced by the children in wet weather when they 

 enter with the feet and footwear covered with mud. It is pitiable 

 to see outside every school entrance a mud-scraper ; it looks so 

 lonely and neglected. There is no reason why the main and other 

 entrances should not be grated over for about 12 feet with movable 

 gratings in handy sections, and have shallow trays underneath. 

 The youngsters would enjoy the noise of scraping the feet over the 



