It will be noticed that sometimes the same subject appears under two headings. It is naturally convenient to treat it under either, the two relations being simultaneously discussed. It will, however, be impracticable to discuss the subject exhaustively in this report; consequently the above outline will not be implicitly followed, but the details taken as may seem convenient, and no attempt will be made to discuss them at all. 8. Choice of site for school. A 1 (i) (a).-Little can be added to the direction of Art. 1 in the Genevese Regulations. The directions in the different cantons are much the same, viz., that the schools shall be situated either on dry plots, or on plots that can be thoroughly drained; the sites shall, moreover, be airy, of free and easy access, away from all noisy, unhealthy, and dangerous establishments, and shall not be near cemeteries. The immediate surroundings used for gymnastic exercises, drill, or school games and recreation, should be of the same character. (b) Position of school plot.-The site should, wherever possible, be a commanding one, and worthy of a noble building, even if there be no intention to erect it for the next century, for it is certain that such sites will ultimately be required. In many countries the public school, though rarely ornate, is noble in its architectural character, and beautifies the city or town in which it is found. It would be well to remember that this State is only in its infancy, and that the school is one of its institutions, the dignity and importance of which must inevitably advance with its development. To-day, in many countries, the school, from its lowest to the highest form, has already attained to a very high place, and the school-house, as already said in the case of Switzerland, is to be found among the noblest of the buildings. That should hereinafter be true also of this country. Our opportunity to make the necessary provision is, of course, the present time, and in view of the fact that we have over and over again suffered the limitations of want of foresight, it is desirable that we should take care, in our appropriations for school purposes, to satisfy not merely the conditions indicated by our present needs, but that we should look ahead at least one century. (c) Soil and drainage. The character of the soil is satisfactory, provided it admit of good foundations and thorough drainage, and if the subsoil be such as cannot be injuriously affected by industrial or other establishments.1 (d.) Area of school plot.-A plot of a minimum of 8 square metres (about 86 square feet) per pupil is exacted by the ordnance of the Swiss Federal Council of 16th April, 1883, concerning the gymnastic teaching to boys of 10 to 15 years of age; this, for a school of say 500, would be a rectangular plot of 200 feet x 215 feet for the gymnastic exercise alone. And this is the minimum; outside of this, provision for the school-building and its adjuncts must also be made. Where the school has a kindergarten department, it should have rooms for small classes, and actual gardens to assist the children in nature-study, etc., and for them recreation grounds separated from those of the primary classes. (e.) Provision for future school development.-Provision for the future ought really to be of two kinds, viz., for schools immediately required and their development, and schools that will be needed in the far-distant future. The world-wide estimate of what schools ought to be, is such that future appropriations for school areas should be on a far more liberal scale than in the past; and it would be well to over, rather than under, estimate our future needs. We are certain to be stunted if we neglect this matter. When school areas are to be obtained only through costly resumptions of land that has become valuable, there will be hesitancy as to acquiring a sufficient area. Assuming that no school ought to have more than 1,000 pupils, we may say that 5 acres may be regarded as an absolutely minimum provision-say a plot of land about 650 feet x 330 feet. This probably would be sufficient whenever the school lands are adjacent to the park lands of the town in which they are situated, and there does not appear to be any reason why the parks should not invariably be contiguous to the school area. On the contrary, such an arrangement is eminently desirable, and it would afford splendid opportunities for the military evolutions of cadets. Where such an arrangement is not possible the school area should be larger. It is quite certain that the generation that makes noble provision in this respect will be recognised in the future as having risen to dignity in its conception of the future. educational needs of the State; and the liberal provision will never, and can never, be regretted. In London it has already been keenly realised that the acquirement of extremely valuable sites for school purposes, however costly, is inevitable; and it will not be long before their experience is repeated in Sydney. 9. Form and dimension of school buildings.-A.1., ii (a). In few places has the question of the best form for school buildings been so systematically and thoroughly studied as in Switzerland, and, recently, in the United States. There is, however, a very decided consensus of opinion the whole world over, since nearly all the recently-built schools substantially follow the same principles in their construction. This question of form obviously involves a reference to what may be called the class-room requirements of a school. The past practice of New South Wales of having a row of classes in a very long room is practically unknown, except in England, and, as far as modern schools are concerned, it is abandoned there also. In the opinion of all educationists of recognised authority, such an arrangement is a very bad one. Obviously mental concentration on the part of the pupils is made thereby nearly impossible; the teacher cannot get into touch with his pupils as he can in a single room; and the only thing that can be urged in its favour, are convenience of supervision by a head master, and a poor economy. The matter may be dismissed, therefore, as not requiring further consideration, for no one would now advocate such an arrangement in a school that was intended to reach a high degree of efficiency. The 1 In the ordinance of 30 December, 1890, for Zurich, it is declared that: "Le bâtiment scolaire doit être éloigné de tout établissement industriel pouvant infecter l'atmosphère ou le sous-sol et dont le voisinage est dangereux au premier chef pour la santé." 2 See L'école populaire Suisse, Genève, 1896, p. 224, The rooms to be provided in a completely equipped school are the following, and such rooms are found in all modern school buildings where efficient teaching is aimed at, and where that is not sacrificed to economy. The proper shape for building will be considered in section 10: 1. Each class-group should have a class-room; more than one room, therefore, may be required for the whole of the pupils of one grade. 2. In addition, there should be a large room for manual work for boys. 3. Similarly, a work-room for girls. 4. A large hall for gymnastics. 5. A large hall for general meetings, reunions, etc. 6. A laboratory for physics, astronomy, etc. 7. A laboratory for chemistry. 8. A museum of natural history. 9. A library. 10. A reading-room. 11. If cooking be taught, one or two kitchens will also be required. 12. A pantry and store-room. For lower-grade schools Nos. 6, 7, and even 8 may be altogether; so also may Nos. 9 and 10 be in the one room. Such provision as has just been indicated is obviously very different from what has heretofore been thought necessary; this, however, is simply because there has, so far, been no adequate attempt to teach the elements of science, nor to equip the schools of our State in a manner comparable with those of Europe and America. (b). Orientation.-Although orientation is a matter of some importance, school buildings have generally been erected without regard to the cardinal points, their position being decided merely by the street directions, etc.; unfortunately there is not yet absolute agreement among hygienic authorities as to this question. Those of France claim that-for the northern hemisphere, of course, the principal façade should face to the north, that being the only position which avoids the direct rays of the sun, and gives an equal light, while the hygienists of other countries absolutely reject such an orientation. Three important cantons in Switzerland, viz., Berne, Vaud, and St. Gall, expressly prohibit such a position. A west orientation-i.e., the façade facing west-is unanimously rejected because of the heat, and of the changing and disagreeable light, and is allowed in only a single canton of Switzerland, viz, Fribourg. The objection to this orientation would of course be the same for the southern hemisphere. An east orientation is exacted by Aargau, Berne, and St. Gall, and is interdicted by no canton. recommended by no less than ten Swiss cantons, viz., the two Appenzells, Aargau, Berne, Fribourg, Neuchâtel, Thurgau, St. Gall, Vaud, and Zurich. This would correspond to north for this hemisphere. A south aspect is A south-east orientation, corresponding to north-east here. is advocated by Koch, a Zurich architect, and is strongly recommended by five cantons, viz., one of the Appenzells, Aargau, Basel-Town, St. Gall, and Zurich. Restating these for this hemisphere, these results are: Orientation. Comments. South. Advocated by French, otherwise rejected; sometimes expresssly prohibited. North. Strongly recommended, except by French authorities. North-east.-Nowhere strongly objected to; sometimes strongly advocated. Bearing in mind that there is practically great difficulty in adhering to any single position, it is necessary to point out the limits of proper orientation rather than the best position, which after all may be greatly modified by local circumstances, such as the prevailing direction of wind and weather. The advantages of the north, east, and north-east aspects are that, although insolation of the rooms exists, it occurs early in the day, viz., at a time when it is either beneficial or least injurious. The question of the proper orientation of buildings in latitude 35° south, which will therefore apply fairly well, as a mean, to all parts of this State, and of insolation at different times of the day and year, have been treated by one of the Commissioners in connection with the whole theory of city-design. Making use of these results, it would appear that the maximum advantage is obtained with north-east or northerly orientation; and any orientation lying between east and north will be satisfactory for this State. 1 10. Construction of building, and material &c., A. i, ii (c).—It is unnecessary to discuss the question of merely temporary school-buildings, constructed of wood for example, excepting to observe that more attention should be paid to the comfort of pupils, for as much as their educational progress depends very largely on their physical comfort in the school. In regard to the generalities of construction, t may be pointed out that schools should not imitate barracks as regards their form-that is to say, in no case should a large building of many storeys be erected as a school-building. At Basel there is a school of twenty-four, at Aargau one of thirty-six, and at Chaux-de-Fonds, one containing more than forty classes. Such buildings are now deemed too large by the great majority of Swiss authorities. This at once suggests limits as to the number that can be aggregated in a single school-building, a number which has herein before been placed at 1,000. The Genevese Regulation, Art. 5, Sect. 4, that a school-group shall not exceed 500, has already been noted. group; the idea of separation is for better control and discipline generally. Several types of buildings The one building could, of course, contain more than one have much to recommend them, viz., the building round a square courtyard shaped thus,, of which there are several fine examples in German cities; the -shaped and П-shaped buildings, of which also there are many fine examples; and finally a long straight building. The first has, of course, two parts necessarily subject to adverse criticism with respect to orientation, and the second and third at east one part; with, however, special utilisation of these parts for other than ordinary class-rooms, the See Sect. 7. The theory of city-design, by G. H. Knibbs, F.R. A.S., etc., Journ. Royal Society, Vol. XXXV. p. 72-78 the fundamental objections fall through, and all forms can be very satisfactorily employed. In Germany, the interior courtyard is glazed. The form which most strongly commends itself to the Commissioners is, however, the long building with small wings at the end, and a long corridor running along the whole length of the class-rooms, etc. The following plans and view will give some idea of the character of schools suggested. It will be observed that the quantity of light is all that could be wished. THE PRIMARY SCHOOL AT KLINGENSTRASSE, ZURICH, SWITZERLAND. 11. SOUTH-EAST VIEW OF THE PRIMARY SCHOOL AT THE BÜHL, ZURICH, SWITZERLAND. Building cost £21,000. Thirty-three rooms. Two other buildings besides the one shown. 15-3 H 11. Materials used in construction of schools (c), continued. In regard to material of construction, it may be stated that walls may be of stone or pressed bricks. In some places very permeable materials, as for example, porous bricks, porous stone, etc., are prohibited for sanitary reasons. The roofing may be tiles or slate, but should not be galvanised iron except for temporary structures The flooring ought to be in seasoned hardwood. The ordinary system of flooring in this State is the reverse of satisfactory hygienically; parquetry alone prevents the entry of dust into the grooves, and admits of really proper cleaning. For corridors, etc., there now exist very fine concretes and cements, closely imitating marble. The cost of parquetry is not felt to be too great in Europe; all the modern schools are so floored. Where it cannot be used, pine, thoroughly saturated on the surface with hot paraffin, is fairly satisfactory and tolerably impermeable, and can be kept clean. With our present consciousness, or rather want of consciousness of hygiene, these matters may appear of light moment: that feeling does not exist in Switzerland, and is rapidly disappearing elsewhere, at least in all places where hygienic researches are made the subject of careful consideration. A point to which attention may again be directed, is that schools kept as they are in Switzerland are splendid object-lessons in hygiene, and cannot fail to leave their impress on the people. It may be again noted that hardwood parquetry is prescribed in Art. 22 of the Genevese regulations, see Sec. 4 of this chapter. Art. 21 of the same regulations, directs the rounding-off of all angles of walls: this is an excellent provision both for internal and external angles. The suggestion of the same article of a plinth or wainscot in faience, or in one of the very beautiful cements now available, is also an excellent one. The ceilings should either be of metal or fibrous plaster, both are perfectly safe: the old plaster ceiling should disappear. It need hardly be pointed out that rough walls such as we have in many of our schools here, and pine floors with wide, dust-filled grooves, would be strongly condemned in Switzerland as inconsistent with good hygiene. 12. Schoolrooms and their Dimensions. A 1 (ii) (d).-The dimensions of schoolrooms obviously depend upon the number of pupils that are to be admitted to a class. The practice in regard to this is very variable, but the principle that small classes are to be preferred is universally admitted: it is obvious that a greater amount of individual attention can be given to the pupils whenever the class is small. Writing in 1898, Dr. A. Combe, an eminent Swiss authority on school hygiene, says :-"In regard to teaching, a schoolroom however spacious it may be, ought not to contain too large a number of pupils. To exceed fifty pupils is to exceed the powers of surveillance of the best endowed master. "In relation to hygiene, the number of fifty pupils appears to us also to represent a maximum, for the respiration and perspiration of fifty children rapidly bring about a dearth of oxygen, an excess of carbonic acid, and vitiation of the air. Unfortunately this number is too often exceeded in Swiss schools." The following table will shew the number allowed in some of the Swiss cantons: It may be noted that the recent tendency is not to exceed the limit of 40, viz., the number in Appenzell Ext. and Geneva; this is the case not only in Switzerland, but generally. In the code of regulations and instructions of the School Management Committee of the School Board of London, for the guidance of managers, correspondents, and teachers, Art. 13, it is stated:-"As a general rule in determining the staff needed in a school, the average attendance under a single teacher in Standard I, II, or III shall not exceed 60; in Standards IV and V shall not exceed 50; and in Standards above V shall not exceed 40. In fixing the staff of combined departments the head teachers are not counted upon the staff." Here also the tendency has shewn itself to further decrease the numbers, both for hygienic and pædagogic reasons. In this relation it must be recollected that the school-life is the serious part of childlife; and the future of the individual, and therefore of the nation, depends upon it; and in an intelligent view it is therefore absolutely necessary to secure such conditions as admit of efficient teaching, i.e., the physical conditions for the pupil and for the teacher must be favourable. When classes are large, and the hygienic conditions are indifferent, lassitude and inattention are the result, and both pupils and teachers are in a bad way for progress. One need only take account of the summer temperature and conditions of some of our schools, and of the winter temperature of others, to realise how imperfect is their pædagogic efficiency. This last question will be referred to later on. Beside the limits for a class above indicated, there are others which may be noted:-The length is limited by the vocal conditions; that is, for many hours teaching, the voice ought not to be strained in the least: and it is limited also by the visual power of master and pupil, for it is necessary to distinguish everything that is written on the blackboard. The Swiss limit is 9.50 metres, say 31 feet, and it is pointed out that there is some difficulty in seeing blackboard work at 8:50 metres, say 28 feet. The breadth is limited by the lighting conditions, and with the unilateral system of windows, the lighting is not sufficiently good if the breadth be more than 7 metres, say 23 feet. The limits of height depend upon satisfactory acoustic conditions, and if excessive give rise to a disagreeable resonance. A limit of 4 metres, or 13 feet, is suggested by Dr. Combe, and 13 or 14 feet seems very satisfactory. It may be mentioned that the building regulations of Western Australia direct that the height shall be 14 feet, see B 1, page 114, Regulations for 1900. There There exists a considerable diversity in ratio of height, length, and breadth in Swiss schools, as the following table shews-the values are given in metres : The lengths of 110 metres (336 feet), or more, is excessive; these are marked "!" on the above table. All recent construction has been in the direction of having higher class-rooms. Soleure alone had in 1873 only 6 schools out of 170, with a height of over 3 metres (10 feet) for its class-rooms; in 1891, it had 64 out of 248; and in 1896, 96 out of 308 schools. Very recent buildings all exemplify the greater heights. The floor-surface per pupil is a matter to which school hygienists have given some considerable attention. The following table gives in English measure the practice of several countries : Just as the height of modern school-rooms has increased, so also has the floor space. For example, in Soleure, in 1873, only 37 out of 179 schools had more than 161 square feet per pupil, in 1891, 91 schools out of 248; and in 1896, 140 out of 308; in percentages these are 21, 37, and 45 per cent. In a country like ours where the heat is great in summer, and especially where it is also humid, it is desirable to be liberal in our estimate of space per pupil. If now we allow 16 square feet, or 15 square metres, that will give agreeable rooms. For example, taking 40 pupils as about the proper number to be aggregated in a single class-room, one obtains say : : This is a ratio very nearly of 3 2 1, which will at once be recognised as very agreeable; in fact, it would be well, in the Commissioners' opinion, if these simple proportions were adhered to as the ideal proportions of class-rooms. From forty to forty-five pupils could be aggregated in such rooms; and there is no doubt in the Commissioners' minds that such a number should not be exceeded, and cannot be exceeded without impairing efficiency. Were it not that the expense of education is thereby greatly increased, still smaller classes would be better; but it is obvious that there is a practical limit, soon reached in any scheme of public instruction. Classes of the size indicated can, with better equipments than those now existing, be made manageable. Colour of Walls.-In order that the school-room shall be well-lighted, it is necessary that the walls shall be light-toned, but tinted with colour as soft, agreeable, and reposeful as possible to the eye. The following are the colours used in some of the Swiss Cantons, where the matter has received careful consideration. All the colours are oil-colours : Professor Marc Dufour, of Lausanne, strongly commends pale-grey. Any pale colour is really satisfactory, but pale-green seemed to the Commissioners to be, from every point of view, the best, and to be the most restful colour for the eyes. The paint should be of very good quality, so as to admit of washing, when deemed necessary. 13. Vestibules, Corridors, Cloak and Hat-rooms, etc. Al ii (e).-Two attractive features of almost all modern schools are the fine vestibules and wide corridors, the latter running along the whole course of the class-rooms. For the width of corridors 10 feet is regarded in many places an absolute minimum; in Basel 13 feet, in Geneva 164 feet. The Commissioners recommend 15 feet as a minimum for the best grade of schools; this width for corridors is compatible with good hygiene; it should never be less than 10 feet. Neatly-furnished |