EDUCATION IN BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 109 



only about £250 per annum), the Lancashire Education Committee very 

 recently erected a fine new Grammar School to take the place of the old school, 

 and they also assist in providing funds for the maintenance of the school, 

 which is now doing splendid work. 



Elementary Education in Blackpool. 



The motto of Blackpool is ' Progress,' and this has been acted upon in the 

 development of their system of elementary education. 



When the 1918 Education Bill was before Parliament, I noted that the Bill 

 proposed to make it compulsory for local education authorities to provide 

 ' central schools ' or ' central classes,' for their older or more intelligent pupils. 



The Act of 1902 had given powers to provide Secondary Schools, but these 

 had provided for less than 10 per cent, of the pupils in the country. Some of 

 the larger authorities (e.g., London and Manchester) had provided Central 

 Schools to supplement these, and the 1918 Bill proposed that all authorities 

 must make similar provision. I endeavoured to find out how many pupils 

 would be able to profit by Secondary and Central School education, so that 

 I might forecast what provision for these must be made. The Board of 

 Education had no comprehensive statistics with which I could compare 

 Blackpool figures, so I obtained, tabulated, and published particulars of over 

 600,000 pupils attending elementary schools under local education authorities 

 in various parts of the country. These were published in the Times 

 Educational Supplement of September 26th, 1918. 



From my examination of the problem, I came to the conclusion that, in 

 addition to providing for about 20 per cent, of the selected pupils in Secondary 

 or Central Schools, it would be essential that centrally-situated Senior Schools 

 should be provided for the other 80 per cent, of the over-eleven pupils. 



In 1920, the Blackpool education authority adopted a scheme which I 

 proposed to them for the re-organisation of the Blackpool schools, and the 

 scheme was accepted by the Board in 1920. The scheme was based on the 

 view that if the older pupils who are not selected for attendance at a Secondary 

 or Central School are to have the training which their individual needs and 

 aptitudes require, they must be collected together in schools of such size and 

 with such equipment and staff as may make the necessary curriculum 

 economically as well as educationally practicable. 



When the North of England Education Conference was held at Blackpool 

 in New Year week, 1924, the President of the Conference, Mr. Wood (who 

 became Lord Irwin, and is now Lord Halifax) was the President of the Board 

 of Education. Unfortunately he was unable to attend the Conference on 

 account of Cabinet Meetings. (The Cabinet were then considering whether 

 to resign and ask the Labour Party to take their place, and Mr. Ramsay 

 Macdonald first took office as Prime Minister on 22nd January, 1924.) 



In the emergency, I could get no one to take Mr. Wood's place, so I occupied 

 the Presidential chair myself, and I gave what was probably the first Conference 

 speech which advocated re-organ isat ion of schools, a policy which is now being 

 so widely adopted throughout the country. I circulated a leaflet to members 

 of the Conference, giving notes on the Blackpool scheme, with particulars of 

 the progress made with the scheme up to December, 1923. 



