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OLDHAM EDUCATION WEEK : MAY 1925
GALLERY

The following, is the second part of a transcription of the 87 page book (as shown in this page header) including it's 27 monochrome photographs. The book was kindly passed to Linda Richardson, our Branch Chairman, to include on our website pages. 

PART 2     (Link to Part 1)

Links on this page :
Chaucer Street School
(pps 41-46)    ~    Castleshaw School of Recovery (pps 46-48)   ~  School for the Deaf (pps 48-49)   ~  School for the Blind (49-50)   ~  Health of the School Child (pps 51-55)   ~  Secondary Education (pps 56-62)   ~  Evening Schools (pps 63-65)   ~  Technical and Art Schools (pps 66-73)   ~  Adult Education (pps 74-76)   ~  Public Library, Art  Gallery & Museum (pps 77-78)   ~  Cost of Education (pps 79-83)   ~  After School (pps 84-88)

SPECIAL SERVICES

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The Special Schools are a necessary adjunct to the social and educational organization of modern civilization. They provide opportunity for expansion of mind and body for children for whom nature or accident has diminished the possibilities for equal competition in the battle of life.

1 : CHAUCER STREET SCHOOL

Chaucer Street Special School consists of two distinct departments - one for children who need special care and training on account of physical weakness, and the other for children, who from various causes are mentally incapable of scholastic progress at a normal pace. As the accommodation in the schools is limited, great care is exercised in the selection of the children.
Each child during the first six months of attendance is kept under special supervision for the purpose of detecting any possible contributory causes for subnormality, e.g., defective hearing, defective eyesight, defective digestion, or malnutrition. When a cause is discovered every effort is made to remedy or alleviate the trouble.
The delicate children travel to and from school by motor ambulance. Children who live at a distance from the school travel by car. The cost is defrayed by the Education Authority.
The physical well-being is of paramount importance if the minds of delicate children are to utilise their potentiality; consequently, the children are served with beef tea or milk and, where deemed necessary, a tonic of cod liver oil and hypophosphites.
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A nourishing mid-day meal is also provided for the cost to the children of 3d. each meal. To improve the general condition, and to assist slow circulation, many of the children are given baths. Suitable exercises and games also are employed.
Department I. - Periodical illness and absence from school for treatment often reduce the school life of the delicate child to 3 or 4 years. Every effort is made to give a good general education in the hope that mental alertness may compensate for physical disadvantage when it becomes necessary for a livelihood to be secured.
In addition to the ordinary scholastic subjects the children receive six hours handwork instruction each week. The subjects are chosen to meet the needs of the individual children, and vary according to development and physical possibility. Marqueterie, French-polishing, leather work, box-making, woodwork, shoe repairing, chip-carving, and designing, lace making, embroidery, plain needlework, cookery and housewifery, are the subjects chosen for the older children, while raffia work, paper work, Montessori and Froebelian occupations are employed in the training of the younger.
Department II. - The training of the children in this department is essential for the adaptation of life to environment when necessity demands responsibilities of citizenship. The formation of good habits; the exercising of self-control, self - reliance, and correct judgment; the employment of latent powers for useful purposes, and the diverting of undesirable tendencies into harmless activities are of first importance.
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Almost one-third of each day is spent in manual occupations. This work is more within the possibilities of the children than scholastic subjects, and is a means of developing the mind through the hands. After training, many of the children show ability above the average normal child in this branch of work.
The subjects taken are shoe repairing and clogging, wood work, gardening, chair caning, cardboard modelling, rug making, rafiia work, Montessori and Froebelian occupations. Cookery, laundry and housewifery are taken by the girls, and are not only enjoyed, but are productive of excellent results.
The training of the Special School child is more costly than that of the normal child on account of the need for specialized organization and additional equipment. The cost, however, can never balance the duty of the community to its weak and suffering children.

2 : CASTLESHAW SCHOOL of RECOVERY.

This school for delicate children is ideally situated amongst the Yorkshire hills, and stands “four square to all the winds that blow.” It provides accommodation for twenty-two girls whose ages range from five to fourteen. No child is admitted unless it is certified by the Medical Oflicer that she is unable to attend the ordinary elementary school. Out of school hours the children are in the care of a Matron, who, with the help of the Medical Officer who attends weekly, watches carefully over the physical well-being of the children.
The children receive instruction in the open air when weather conditions are favourable, and in
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a light airy school room when the weather is bad. Instruction is given in all ordinary school subjects and handwork, and is modified to suit the physical and mental condition of the pupils.
Parents and friends visit the children fortnightly and are allowed to bring gifts of sweets and fruit. The children derive great benefit from their stay at the school. No child is discharged until she is certified to be quite ready to attend the ordinary school and to be in such a condition as to profit by the education provided there.

3 : SCHOOL for the DEAF

The public education of the deaf and dumb in England began with the foundation of the Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb in London, 1792. The general Education Act of 1870 made no special provision for the Deaf and Dumb, and it was not until 1894 that schools for the Deaf gained government recognition and received special grants. At that time about one-third of the deaf children of the country were receiving education in charitable institutions or in a few day schools founded by the more progressive School Boards. The class in Oldham was commenced in 1890 at the Lyceum, but was later removed to the Deaf Institute, then to Wellington Street, and in 1895 to St. Michael’s, Crossbank Street. In 1903 the present school in Gower Street was built and for its special purpose is one of the best buildings in the country.
By reason of their deafness the children are cut off from the normal means of acquiring speech and language. Without education they have no knowledge beyond that necessary for an animal existence.
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To them education means the acquiring of a certain degree of speech, language and knowledge which renders them capable of taking their place in the social and intelligent life of the community, able to work for their livelihood and become profitable citizens. Of the 149 children who have passed through the school none is a burden to the rates, - a contrast to former days when a majority of the uneducated deaf sooner or later drifted to the workhouse.

4 :THE SCHOOL for the BLIND

The present School for the Blind, held at Gower Street, had its origin thirty years ago in a class of four blind children who formed a special class at Beever Street and later at the School for the Deaf. The School was officially recognised in 1896.
Twenty children are now being taught by the special methods used for the blind, and, of these, 8 are totally blind. Education for the Blind is now compulsory.
Special teaching methods are required, chiefly, for the “three R’s,” where “sighted” symbols have to be replaced by something which can be felt. The Braille system is used for Reading and Writing. In this, certain combinations of raised dots represent letters and the child learns to recognise these by running its finger tips over them. For Arithmetic, metal type are inserted in different positions in a perforated metal slate and each position represents a figure.
The sensitive touch necessary for such work has to be developed by constant practice in handwork, and this is therefore an important subject in the curriculum.
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The remaining senses - particularly that of hearing need developing, and, to this end, music, literature and sense-training games and exercises are largely used. The children are also encouraged in and out of school hours to walk alone with confidence so as “to help them to help themselves” and become as self-dependent as possible.

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HEALTH OF THE SCHOOL CHILD

Public Education during its early days gave very little, if any, attention to the consideration of the Child’s Health. Public Health work has, until comparatively recent years, provided for the treatment of defects rather than for taking measures for their prevention. When education became compulsory every child went to school unless certified as unfit. If children were blind, deaf, crippled or mentally weak, suitable educational facilities were arranged for them.
It is true that a master mind has sometimes been enshrined in a feeble or deformed frame, but the salutary standard is “a sound mind in a sound body.’
Since 1908 increasing attention has been paid to preventive work by the adoption of measures for (I) ascertaining any defective conditions, (2) by securing the treatment of these conditions with a view to prevent any further deterioration or to obtain a complete cure.
The majority of children are fortunately born in a healthy condition, but bad management and environment during the first years of existence may very considerably deteriorate their health.
Years ago the loss of life in infants and the crippling mentally and physically of others had been frequently pointed out, but only quite recently has any organised scheme for the reduction of these conditions been established.
The measures adopted by the Health Authority for the amelioration of Infant Life have reduced
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infantile mortality by more than one-third and also reduced the prevalence of defective conditions in young children. Some idea of the effect of this work may be gathered by comparing the following percentages. 1909 was the first year of complete medical inspection.
Infants’ Schools ......................................Percentage.
                                                    1909 .................... 1923
Dirty Children .................................14% .....................1.5%
Rickets .............................................4.5% ...................2.2%
Deformities ..................................... 5% ..................... 2%
Enlarged Tonsils ..............................5% ..................... 1.7%
The home life of a child depends greatly on parental care and influence, and if parents remain indifferent, ignorant, or negligent, a detrimental effect will be caused. Hence the value of lessons in the affect of dirt and neglect, the influence of sunlight and fresh air, and even the care of babies.
One of the first measures taken by the School Medical Department was an inspection of each school in the Borough. Numerous defects were found, the commonest being a bad ventilation of classrooms. In many instances the ventilators had not been open for years, in others pictures were placed over them. Many defective sanitary conditions were remedied. In the schools built in recent years these matters are considered of the first importance. In the following year the first systematised Medical Inspection was carried out by asking the teachers to select those children who appeared to be ailing and those who were below par. Many of the teachers appreciated this work and in 1907 about 900 children were found sufiering from more or less remediable defects. In this respect the Oldham Authority was one of the earliest to undertake Medical Inspection. In the next year
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regulations for a systematised Medical Inspection were made by the Board of Education; these have been amplified in accordance with the experience gained and measures for the relief of the defects discovered instituted. The Board requires each child to be medically examined three times during its school life :
(I) soon after admission to the Infants’ School
(2) at the age of eight
(3) at twelve years
Parents are invited to be present, as frequently defects are found of which they were not aware and the condition can be explained to them and the necessary treatment indicated. If there is any condition found, which though not requiring treatment at the time, is unsatisfactory, the child is placed on the list for a special examination the next time the Doctor visits the school. When the parent is not present at the examination and a defect is found, one of the nurses visits the home and instructs the mother how to secure amelioration of the condition. In all cases requiring treatment the child is kept under observation until the defect is remedied. Many of the conditions are not sufficiently serious to require the attendance of a Doctor. For such cases, the School Clinic was started. There children can be seen by one of the Doctors and either referred to their own Doctor, or treated at the Clinic by the nurses.
The latest development is the establishment of a Dental Clinic.
During recent years evidence has been accumulating that the teeth when decayed are responsible for a good many ailments, apart from the effect caused by pain and imperfect mastication. A decayed and septic tooth is an open door for the admission of disease germs of several kinds into
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the system. Something like 60 or 70 per cent. of the children attending the elementary schools have one or more defective teeth, so that there is ample scope for Dental Work. The ultimate aim of Dental treatment is to secure for children by the time they leave school an efiicient and sound set of permanent teeth.
Another condition for which facilities for remedy have been made available for the children is that of defective eyesight, and in this also many parents are loth to improve the condition by the provision of glasses. It is said, perhaps without much evidence, that employers give preference to those not wearing glasses. This is almost as foolish as those who neglect to obtain them when necessary, for it means employing those who may or may not have defective sight instead of those whose eyesight has been carefully tested, and brought up to standard, in other words refusing the known but taking the unknown on trust. The Education Authority will provide glasses free when the income is under a certain standard.
By feeding necessitous children they are also to some extent endeavouring to prevent the deterioration which insufficient food may cause.
One further scheme for improving the health and weakly and delicate children is still to come. The provision of an open-air day school has been decided upon. Into this school, placed in a healthy district where sunlight and fresh air are the most available, weakly and physically defective children will be brought daily They will spend most of their time in the open-air, lessons being given at the same time, and with good food, proper resting periods and such remediable exercises as may be suitable for the individual child.

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SECONDARY EDUCATION

It is probable that the education of adolescent boys has a longer history than any other branch of organised-education; and secondary education to-day has many elements indicative of centuries of irregular development under the various predominant influences of different periods.
The monastic and chorister schools as well as the town and guild schools of mediaeval times are now known to have been more widely spread and better attended than was previously believed, and though many of them were irrevocably lost at the dissolution of the monasteries, that loss was almost immediately made good by the establishment of many Grammar Schools in the spirit of the Renascence[sic] schoolmasters of Northern Italy, - that spirit which was communicated to English education by such men as Colet, More and Erasmus.
From such elements of Mediaevalism and of the Renascence[sic] - Christian and Classic - grew the traditions and curricula of the older public and grammar schools. The curricula are changing, adapting themselves to modern influences; but the traditions fortunately persist, indeed, not only persist, but are permeating, with the necessary adjustments, the schools of recent foundation. These traditions are the glory of English education and the admiration of the world. They have become the leaven of English public life and citizenship, - the sense of corporate life; the spirit of service and loyalty to the community of which one is a member; the experience of responsibility and self-government; to play the game; the value of pure scholarship and the necessity of the proper balance
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of physical, intellectual, spiritual and social education.
But by the sixties of the last century, when the state was beginning more fully to recognise its duty in regard to the elementary education of the poorer classes, only the wealthy were able to avail themselves of the best of the grammar and public schools. They had Uppingham and Thring; the others had Dotheboys Hall and Squeers.
In 1861, a Royal Commission inquired into the Public Schools, and another, in 1864, investigated the Endowed Schools. Subsequent action based on these enquiries did much to increase and improve the facilities for the education of the middle classes. Nothing is more illustrative of the changing conditions and opinions of that period than the inclusion in the enquiry of the facilities for the education of girls of the middle classes. The desire that girls should have educational opportunities equal to those of their brothers had been fostered by such leaders as Miss Buss, Miss Beale, and Miss Davies, helped by men such as Henry Sidgwick, Charles Kingsley, F. D. Maurice and JJohn Stuart Mill. Their enthusiasm and faith led to the establishment of High Schools for Girls side by side with the Grammar Schools of their brothers, and secondary education for the well-to-do of both sexes became general. Whenever it is necessary to find proof of the value and power of secondary education, no better example can be found than the remarkable social and political progress of Women since those days - rather more than fifty years ago. The establishment of the Hulme Grammar Schools for Boys and for Girls is described on another page of the Handbook.
In 1902, after thirty-two years of organised elementary
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education, statutory powers were given to local authorities to develop secondary education by public monies. Thus such education for all classes became possible, and Municipal and County Secondary Schools sprang up side by side with the older Grammar and Public Schools. It is told elsewhere how Oldham, in spite of discouragement, established its own Secondary School.
The new development provided an opportunity for the abolition of the pupil-teacher centres. Those institutions had admirably fulfilled their purpose of giving efficient academic training to young teachers, but the new secondary schools made it possible to educate intending teachers in the company of those preparing for the other professions, for industry, or for commerce. Education has not yet felt the full advantage which will accrue from the broader education of the teacher of to-day, an advantage which the segregating policy of the obsolete system could not give. In 1908, the Oldham Pupil-Teacher Centre was absorbed into the Secondary School.
Since 1902, the State, the Local Education Authorities, the Universities and the teaching profession have co-operated in well-considered experiments in secondary education. Aiming at first at a course of “good general education” of four years ranging from 12 to 16 years of age, opinion is now agreed that 11 years is the most suitable age for transference from the primary or preparatory school, and that, while 16 years may be a suitable age for those who wish to leave to go straight to work, it is better for those who intend to go to the University to stay till 18 years of age. Consequently, the Board now pays secondary school
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grants from 11 years of age, and has given special grants for Advanced Courses from 16 to 18.
Nominally the curriculum is in the control of the governing body, but it is conditioned by the Board’s requirement of a compulsory school-leaving examination. The syllabus for this examination is issued by the Universities but is subject to investigation by the Board and the direct suggestions of the teachers’ organisations. A sufficiently creditable pass counts as matriculation to the Universities. Too early specialisation is discouraged by the necessity of passing in each of three groups of subjects :
Group I, English, History, Geography;
Group II, Languages, Classic or Modern;
Group III, Mathematics and Science.
There is a Group IV of Optional Subjects, the gradual inclusion of which indicates the insistent belief that a secondary school course must be on the broadest possible lines. This Group includes Art, Music, Needlecraft, Handicraft, Book-keeping, Cookery, Laundry-work, Housewifery, Domestic Science and Geometrical Drawing. The Oldham Grammar and Secondary Schools must therefore have courses to cover these requirements.
Those who intend to proceed to the University take an advanced Course of two years in three principal and one or more subsidiary subjects. Specialisation begins. The principal subjects must be of a co-ordinated kind and the subsidiary one of a different kind, e.g., Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry with English as subsidiary. The Higher School Certificate Examination at the end of the Course is rather harder than the Intermediate Degree Courses and excuses the successful candidate from certain work in the University, and secures him prima facie evidence of ability to take
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an Honours Course in one of his principal subjects. The Oldham Education Committee has been exceptionally prompt and generous in its provision of scholarships both for the Courses and for the University with the result that the Oldham Schools are sending to the Universities a continuous flow of well-qualified students, and so, in that respect, maintains the purpose of secondary education. But the unique element in English Secondary education is its appreciation of the value of the whole man. This it learned from the first great Humanist schoolmaster, Vittorino da Feltre, 500 years ago; and the Oldham Schools on their playing fields, in their gymnasia, in their numerous school societies and activities, as well as at their books, are carrying on that great tradition.

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EVENING SCHOOLS

The Evening Schools and Classes of the Oldham Education Committee include seven schools for adolescent boys, eight schools for adolescent girls, a Women’s Institute, a Play Centre and classes in Elocution, Literature, the Theory of Music and Harmony, and Typewriting.
Boys’ Evening Schools
The course of instruction in the Boys’ Evening Schools has one clear aim, namely, to fit the boys to proceed to advanced classes held at the Technical School in Technology and Commerce. The Schools meet on three evenings per week for about 23 weeks in the winter and for about six weeks in the summer, and there are two Preliminary Courses, one Technical and the other Commercial. The budding Technical Students take up in the Evening Schools the study of Practical Mathematics, Practical Drawing, English and Science, and the young Commercial students, Arithmetic and Accounts, English and Commercial Correspondence and Shorthand. The Commercial Course is also open to girls.
The fees are almost nominal. Students who have left the Day School since the previous Christmas are admitted for the session on payment of 1/- and if they attend regularly, this fee is remitted and a free ticket for the next session awarded. Other students pay fees ranging from 2/- to 4/-. Prizes are awarded for Homework and term examination results and for successes at the examinations of the Union of the Lancashire and Cheshire Institutes, and 40 Technical School Scholarships entitling the winners to free admission to the Technical School are also competed for yearly.
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Girls’ Evening Schools.
The subjects of instruction in the Girls’ Evening Schools are almost wholly domestic. All students under 15 years of age must take English, Needlework and one or more subjects - Dressmaking or Millinery or Cookery. After the age of 15 there are Elementary followed by Advanced Domestic Courses in Needlework, Dressmaking, Cookery, Millinery and Home-Nursing and Ambulance. The popularity of the schools and the courses are evident; the average enrolment for one school alone for many years has been over 500. Students who obtain a first Class Certificate in the highest grade of either Millinery or Dressmaking are admitted to the Technical School City and Guilds classes in the subjects at half the usual fee for the following session.
Women’s Institute.
The admission is restricted to those of 16 years of age and over. The Grouped courses comprise two or more of the following subjects :
Cookery, Dressmaking and Costume making, Needlework and Embroidery, Millinery, Ambulance and Home Nursing, Hygiene, and the single subject classes include Choral Singing, Literature and Elocution, Raffia-work and Folk Dancing.
A special class is held to prepare for the St. John’s Ambulance Association Examination. The Summer classes in the Central School (Wellington Street) where the Institute meets, and the Annual Exhibition at the Town Hall carry their own certificates of the excellent work done.
Play Centre.
The Play Centre at Richmond Street Council School was conducted for two years by voluntary helpers. But in 1923 the Education Committee took over the financial responsibility.
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It is open on four nights each week - two nights are for boys and two for girls. The number on the register is 140 boys and 140 girls. In Summer the school is open one night per week for girls and one for boys, but the play is out of doors. The subjects are : Handwork, Games, Drawing, Singing, Stories, Dramatisation.
Special Classes.
These classes are held on the condition that a sufficient number of students serve to justify the formation of the classes. It is sufficient to say that they are well attended year by year.

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THE TECHNICAL AND ART SCHOOLS
1 : TECHNICAL EDUCATION

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Previous to 1855 Scientific and Technical Instruction had its beginnings in humble surroundings. Classes were held in dwelings,offices, clubs, institutes and Sunday Schools. These classes were not held under a recognised authority and did not prepare for examinations. The teachers were in many cases unpaid. In one such class each student had to bring his own candle to provide light by which to work. The work done possessed the character of that of “Mutual Improvement” classes and was attended by the ambitious workman who sought more fully to understand the processes and principles of his trade.
In 1855 the Directors of the Oldham Lyceum organised a series of science classes whose students were prepared for the Examinations of the Science and Art Department, South Kensington. These classes were the foundation of the organised work of the Technical Schools of to-day. The teaching staff was wholly voluntary and unpaid.
In 1865 a further development took place. Mr. John Platt, having in the interim erected a new Science and Art School on the plot of land now occupied by the Union Street Technical School, presented this building to the Lyceum for the use of its Science and Art classes. Professional teachers were employed. 1865 may therefore be taken as the date when the present system of Technical Education was commenced locally. It will be noted therefore that the present year is the Diamond Jubilee.
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The progress of the school for the next 15 years may be judged from the following record of entries : The entries in the session 1864-5 were 48, 1870-1 102, 1875-6 237, 1880-1 442. At this date there had been gained 3 National Medals, 9 Whitworth Scholarships, and 9 Whitworth Exhibitions, as well as 27 medals for high success in various subjects of Science and Technology.
The necessity for increased accommodation having become very urgent, the sons of the late John Platt, M.P., built the present Union Street premises and presented them to a committee styled “The Committee of the School of Science and Art.” On Ianuary 1st, 1893, the management of the schools was handed over to the Oldham Corporation. By this time the curriculum was considerably enlarged, the subjects added included Cotton Spinning, Mechanica Engineering, Plumbing, and various Commercial subjects.
In June, 1896, the Ascroft Street Technical School was opened by S. R. Platt, Esq., J.P. In 1897 the work rooms and laboratories were fully equipped and practical work was commenced in connection with spinning, weaving, builders’ work, and engineering. Classes in millinery and dressmaking had already been established, and a considerable extension of the facilities for instruction in chemistry and physics provided in the Union Street School. At this time the number in attendance was 1402.
In 1903 the management of the schools was vested in the Education Committee of the Corporation, and a large part of the elementary work was moved to the evening schools of the Authority.
By 1910 the curriculum was organised on a definite course basis. Certain science subjects were arranged
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to be studied along with the technical subject, and students were compelled to take up these courses of study in place of the more or less irregular course followed hitherto.
The Technical School of to-day is organised on a much broader basis than obtained in 1910. Each trade for which instruction is offered is a distinct unit in the curriculum. Associated with the trade subjects are the collateral Science or Art subjects which bear upon it. Courses are arranged upon a three year basis, with a further advanced two-year course for the capable student. Before entering the school at 15 years of age the student must have attended and passed a Preliminary Technical or Commercial course. Such courses are held in the evening schools situated in various parts of the Borough. A Trade Course has been established for the Grocery trade. In the Domestic Department day and evening classes are held in Advanced Dressmaking, Tailoring and Millinery. These classes are supplemented by a class in English and in Art.
The normal entry to the school at the present day is 1847 (excluding Art Students), and extra accommodation has to be found at Beever Street, St. Peter’s and the Secondary School.

2 : ART EDUCATION

In the past the educational value of the drawing lesson was supposed to be in the discipline entailed by the making of meticulously neat and accurate drawings in outline from flat copies or from uninteresting geometrical solids. Modern art teaching is based upon the facts that a realisation and appreciation of the structure of natural forms and knowledge
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of the construction of artificial objects is an essential preliminary to successful expression, and that the drawing lesson provides one of the best of opportunities for the exercise and development of the creative powers of the child.
Through its attempts to draw, the child is brought into first hand contact with “Life,” and the aim of the teacher is to encourage and develop the powers of observation so that it may learn to “see with knowledge,” and to represent not only visible objects and incidents, but also to express memorised knowledge.
At first it is necessary to work almost entirely upon the appreciation of colour. Using chalk and crayon the children learn how to represent simple forms and, through their attempts at illustration, to draw the right object in the right place. Gradually the interest in the object to be drawn is transferred from the colour form to an appreciation of Truth and Beauty in the structure or construction of the objects studied, to an understanding of growth in natural objects and of construction for a definite purpose in the case of fashioned objects. Later, the pencil, brush and pen are introduced. Drawing from good examples of lettering and the production of simple decorative colour patterns help to improve the artistic taste, while attempts to illustrate costumes, implements, ships and dwellings of different periods, aid in the understanding of the work done in Geography and History and Literature.
In the higher educational institutions, the teaching aims at the improvement of General Culture and Good Taste through the appreciation of the value of sound craftmanship and appropriate decoration.
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Simple crafts, together with nature study and illustrative work, help to make the art work both varied and interesting.
The study of the History of Architecture, Sculpture and Painting assists greatly towards an understanding of the evolution of civilisation and gives some idea of the work created by the great masters of craftwork.
State-aided Schools of Art were first established in this country during the 19th century as Schools of Design to help to improve the design of British manufactures.
The first organised Art Classes in Oldham were commenced in a room in Clegg Street in 1839. In 1863, these classes were transferred to the Lyceum, and in 1894 the Board of Education recognised the school as a School of Art. Since that date the school has been maintained on progressive lines, and in 1916 a Junior School of Art was organised and recognised by the Board of Education.
Day and Evening classes in Art and Craft work, and also in English, Geography, History and Mathematics, are established.
The modern School of Art which supplies the needs of students in an industrial area has to be so organised as to provide courses of instruction for four types of students : -
(I) Those employed in Craft Industries,
(2) Those employed in Manufacturing Industries,
(3) Those whose natural aptitudes for artistic production are sufficiently great as to justify their training as professional
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artists, architects, craftsmen, and teachers,
(4) Those who wish to take up Art work for its general cultural value.
Training is given in Drawing, Painting and Modelling, together with Geometrical Drawing, Perspective, Anatomy, Architecture, Historic Ornament and Design. The necessary practical craft work is obtained in the classes in Embroidery, Leather Work, Wood Carving, Jewellery and Metal Work, Engraving, Etching, Illuminating and Writing.
The work is co-ordinated with the work of the Building and Textile sections of the Technical School, and of the students of Domestic Craft.
Drawing for reproduction in Black and White and Colour, with instruction in Fashion Drawing and Commercial Art, gives training in artistic advertisement.
In addition full provision is made for the fourth class enumerated above, and thus opportunities are provided for the diffusion of artistic influence throughout all sections of the community.

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ADULT EDUCATION

The demand for the provision of opportunities for non-vocational studies has become more insistent in recent years; but it is no new demand. The incentives behind both the demand and the supply have been different at different times, yet for two centuries, at least, organised attempts have been made both to create the demand and to satisfy it; and the fact that when one attempt or one method has lost its impetus another has speedily replaced it is proof of the permanence of the need.
During the eighteenth century many societies provided opportunities for “instructing adult persons to read the Holy Scriptures”; the motives were a mixture of piety, philanthropy, and political apprehension. In the early years of the nineteenth century industrial development led to the establishment of Mechanics’ Institutes and Literary and Scientific Societies. Later, political agitation and economic experiment, Chartism and Co-operation, were the origin of many activities in adult education. Still later the foundation of People’s Colleges initiated the movement by which adult education was to be kept in touch with the Universities. This is the movement which has been developed of late, and which recent circulars of the Board of Education sanction and encourage. One other phase of importance was the impulse given to the development of science classes by the lectures of Huxley.
All these elements have been influential in Oldham and are referred to in different articles in this Handbook.
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In 1851, the Government made its first grants to evening classes and so recognized officially the education of adults. Attempts were made to put an upper limit of age but this was finally removed in 1893. Development under Government grants took place principally in the direction of Technical and Scientific Education. But in recent years, largely due to the establishment in 1903 of the Workers’ Educational Association, a widespread demand has arisen for humanistic studies, for subjects of a liberal education, and particularly for tuition of an advanced character in industrial history, economics and sociology.
The Oldham Branch of this Association has maintained an unbroken series of classes from the foundation of the W.E.A.; and the Local Authority has always helped by giving grants and by the provision of class-rooms, while the Free Library has provided literature to supplement the text books.
The aim of the founders was to bring opportunities for university teaching to the people, not merely by a lecture or series of lectures, but by prolonged tuition and study. The most important phase of the work, therefore, is the Tutorial Class. The tutor of such a class is appointed by a University, and the students must agree to attend for at least three years. Opportunities are given to the students to visit their tutors at the university and at summer schools, so that a student has as,many opportunities as possible to gain all that is meant by “the university spirit.” In Oldham, Tutorial Classes have been held in such subjects as Industrial history; Economics; Literature; Shakespeare and the Drama; Biology; History and Appreciation of Music; and Psychology.
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THE PUBLIC LIBRARY, ART GALLERY, AND MUSEUM

The important part which the public library plays in education is now unquestioned, and from their commencement in 1895 to the present time the Oldham Library, Gallery and Museum have exercised an influence which has constantly increased in scope and power. They serve the community at every period of life. The library is educating men and women long after school days have passed. The Rt. Hon. H.A.L. Fisher has truly said, “The Library Service is always important from an educational and social point of view. The Library is the People’s University, and it has the great advantage over educational institutions that it costs nothing for admission; it is accessible to men and women of every station.”
In 1880, the Town Council took steps to establish a Reference Library, Museum and Art Gallery. The foundation stone of the present building was laid by Dr. Yates in 1882, and in the next year there was a formal opening by Sir Iohn Lubbock. In 1887 a lending department was added, with a collection of 6,812 volumes. A juvenile library was also opened, and the Committee began the popular lectures, still maintained with considerable success. The Lending Department has grown to be the most important. The number of volumes has
grown from less than 7,000 to over 48,000, and the number of books issued reached a total of 436,886 in 1924. Serious reading is not neglected; over 41,000 volumes of a miscellaneous character were issued last year, whilst the Reference Department daily supplies the needs of many readers. Pupils in the schools for higher education and in the voluntary educational associations, such as the W.E.A.,
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have received assistance by having placed at their disposal for special periods collections of books dealing with the subjects studied.
The early formation of a juvenile section showed that from the beginning literature as a formative influence on young life was recognised. In recent years this side of library work has been largely developed. At the present time most, if not all, of the schools in the borough are being supplied with books which are issued to the scholars under the supervision of the teachers, about 4,000 volumes being in constant circulation.
The service rendered is not confined to the circulation of good literature. Those engaged in moulding the characters of the young are realising that there is a distinct place for art in education; that it is not a luxury, but a necessity, and that an appreciation of beauty should be possible in some degree to all. In the industrial towns of the north, it is especially necessary that during the impressionable years of life objects of beauty should be available, and an appreciation of form and colour cultivated. The Library, the Art Gallery, and the Museum bring to the scholars an insight into what art and literature, and an intelligent interest in nature can do in filling life with meaning and purpose. School visits are paid to the annual art exhibitions, as well as to the very fine permanent collection of pictures, and also to the Museum, where talks are regularly given to the classes with a view to creating a permanent interest in nature study. The opportunities thus afforded to the children are of peculiar value in directions where the schools could not be of the same service, the children receiving impressions which will affect the after life by broadening its outlook, and making it more varied in its interests.

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THE COST of EDUCATION

Our educational system is administered jointly by the Board of Education and Local Education Authorities. Each has its own definite powers and duties, and each contributes its share towards the total expenditure.
Generally speaking the Board of Education pays rather more than half the total cost. In Oldham of every shilling spent on education about 6¼d. is paid from the National Exchequer and 5¾d. from the Borough Fund. If it be true that “the Englishman pays his taxes in sorrow but his rates in anger” then so far as education is concerned he pays in both sorrow and anger.
The cost of Higher Education, i.e., of Secondary, Technical and Evening Continuation Schools, is shared equally betweeen the Board of Education and the Local Authority, but the apportionment of the cost of Elementary Education is a much more complex business, and the method of calculation is not unlike a problem in algebra. Generally speaking, however, it may be said that the Board of Education pays between 55 and 60 per cent of the cost of elementary education.
In Non-Provided Schools, i.e., Schools other than Council Schools, the Managers bear the costs of the repairs to the school building except such as are due to “fair wear and tear” which are shared by the Local Authority. The Managers do not, however, contribute in any way towards the two main items of expenditure: teachers’ salaries, and the provision of books and apparatus.
The total annual cost of education in Oldham is about £245,000. Of this sum about £185,000 is
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spent on the Elementary Schools with their 21,000 scholars. The cost of educating a child in an Elementary School is therefore about £9 per annum or, making due allowances for the days when the schools are closed, nearly 5d. for each time the child attends school.
The Special Schools for the Blind, Deaf and Physically and Mentally Defective children cost £7,000 a year, but no one who knows the marvellous work accomplished in these Schools by the patient and kindly efforts of the teachers will begrudge one penny of the cost.
Medical Inspection and treatment costs £3,000 a year - a penny rate - but there is no better investment of Municipal money than in the building up of strong, healthy boys and girls.
During the trade depression of the past few years 30,000 Free Meals per annum have been provided for those unfortunate children whose parents have been unable to provide them with the necessaries of life. Every day of the year, Saturdays Sundays and holidays included, these children are given a substantial meal, the cost of which works out at less than 4½d. each.
The cost of Higher Education, involving as it does smaller classes and more expensive equipment, is necessarily higher than that of elementary education. The Municipal Secondary School costs about £14,500 per annum, the Technical School about £12,000 and the Evening Continuation Schools about £7,000. There are over 6,000 pupils in the various evening classes in Oldham, and anyone who considers for a moment what this means to the young people of the town will surely agree that it is money well spent.
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Very few towns of the size of Oldham have such a generous system of Scholarships leading from the Elementary School to the Universities. At present there are 30 young men and women from Oldham studying at various Universities by means of Scholarships awarded by the Education Authority. The total cost of all the various Scholarships is about £5,000 per annum. 
Such is a brief outline of the chief items of educational expenditure. There is probably no payment from the public purse more frequently criticised but that is hardly to be wondered at seeing that it is difficult to measure many of the results by material standards.
The cost of education may be high but who can estimate the awful cost of ignorance and neglect?
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AFTER SCHOOL

Every year about 2,000 boys and girls leave the Oldham Elementary Schools and enter the mills, workshops and offices of the town.
From the age of five to fourteen these young people have been attending school and learning according to their capacities and inclinations the many lessons that a modern school teaches. For nine years they have been under the watchful eyes of their teachers and have been subject to a firm but kindly discipline; they have played their parts in the different activities of the schools and many of those who have not shone with an intellectual light have proved on the football and cricket fields that they had at any rate learned to “play the game.” Then with startling abruptness comes the change from school to work. One day in the classroom, the next in the factory.
Thanks to the improved conditions in the mills and workshops and also to the shortened hours of labour the change from school to work is less severe than was the case some years ago, but even under the best conditions the change is a great one and quite sufficient to put to the test all the physical and moral powers of boys and girls fresh from school, many of whom droop and falter at least for a time.
Every gardener knows the care and attention required when seedlings are to be transplanted into the open. They must be gradually hardened by increased exposure to the open air, the soil into which they are to be moved must be carefully prepared, and when the transplantation actually takes
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place the young plant must be carefully sheltered and watered until it becomes firmly established in its new surroundings. Human seedlings require similar care and attention when they are moved from the comparative shelter of the school to the factory and workshop.
As a rule parents realise the child's need for increased care at this critical time and do their best to make the change as smooth as possible for the young wage-earner. Until the Choice of Employment Act was passed in 1910 the State did nothing to help parents in their endeavours to do the best for their children, and though much yet remains to be done it can no longer be said that a boy or girl leaves school without any thought to the future.
During the last term a boy is at school enquiries are made as to the kind of work he is going to or desires to go to. In the majority of cases the parents have already decided this and obtained work for him, but in the others, particularly where a boy shows special aptitude for a particular kind of work, or where he is physically unfit for the factory or workshop, the parents are glad of the assistance which the Juvenile Employment Bureau can give. So many factors enter into the choice of suitable employment that it is rarely possible to make due allowance for them all, but every care is taken to prevent as far as possible “round pegs” being placed in “square holes.” Special precautions are taken to prevent children being sent to work for which the school medical inspection has shown them to be unfitted.
Not only is assistance given where necessary with regard to choice of employment, but the desirability
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of continuing the education already received is strongly emphasised and every boy or girl leaving school is given an admission card to an Evening Continuation School and urged to join without delay.
In spite of this it has to be recorded with regret that only one half of the scholars who leave school will ever enter a school again. The other half will still continue to read occasionally for pleasure or information, but the use of the pen will be speedily forgotten, and the only calculations that will ever be made will be those relating to wages or the cost of food, clothing, or amusement. A great deal of the nine years’ work at school will soon be forgotten, but worse by far than the loss of the power to write or reckon is the loss of contact with all those higher influences which a good school exerts. There will of course always be young people to whom school will make very little appeal, and some of these, fortunately for themselves and for all concerned, become associated with the many excellent voluntary organisations which do so much for the youth of today.
There are no more important years of one’s life than those between fourteen and eighteen. This is the time of great change both physical and mental, the time when new longings and impulses arise, the time when the young are specially susceptible to the influences which surround them. It is during these years that the future man or woman is either made or marred, and at present the care of our young people during these vital years is left almost entirely to voluntary effort. Oldham is particularly fortunate in possessing a band of voluntary helpers to whose unselfish and untiring efforts on behalf of its youth the town
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owes a great debt. Every child on leaving school is allocated to one of these after-care helpers who undertakes to visit and report from time to time on his progress. If a boy desires or requires a change of work the helper puts him in touch with the Juvenile Employment Bureau and as soon as possible the necessary change is effected. If his health gives way and his parents cannot afford the necessary treatment advice is given as to the best means of securing it. In all times of difficulty and doubt the helper is ready and anxious to advise and assist, and many a young man and woman remembers with gratitude the kindly sympathy shown by one of these voluntary helpers. More is being done for young people to-day than ever before in the history of this country, but much more remains to be done. There is only one way of obtaining the full benefit from the money spent on elementary education, and that is to institute some form of compulsory continued education for three or four years after the elementary school age. Then, and then only, shall we get full “value for money.”

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