[Report 1939] / School Medical Officer of Health, Cheshire County Council.

  • Cheshire (England). County Council.
Date:
1939
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1939] / School Medical Officer of Health, Cheshire County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    12/26 (page 10)
    Report by the Committee’s Inspectors of Physical Training The past year opened with the promise of a great forward movement in physical training, especially in the Senior Schools. Several Senior Schools were being built, and others had been planned and were awaiting final approval. These new Senior Schools, for pupils of 11-15 years of age, were to offer the most modern facilities for the more advanced work of Senior boys and girls, and also for classes of young people, to be held in the evenings. The Schools were to be provided with fully equipped gymnasia, large playgrounds, and ad- equate playing fields which would permit of the organisation of all types of games and athletic activities suitable for pupils of Senior school age. With such facilities it was essential to have a supply of teachers well qualified to undertake the more advanced work. Several selected teachers had already attended special thi'ee-months courses as approved by the Board of Education, and had thereb}’ qualified as specialist teachers. Some young teachers who were completing their training college course, and were recommended by their college authorities for their interest and teaching ability in physical training, were appointed to be specialist teachers in existing Senior Schools, and others which were being built. In addition, classes for men and for women teachers, to be conducted by the Committee’s Organisers of Physical Training were being arranged for the autumn term. Unfortunately, the outbreak of war at the beginning of September caused the general abandonment of the building of the new Senior Schools, the special three-months courses in physical training for teachers were discontinued, and the young men teachers were called up for military service. At the present time, only two of the new Senior Schools have been completed, and two others are to be opened in the near future. Many of the present Senior Schools, however, are equipped with portable gymnastic apparatus, which allows of an effective scheme of work for senior pupils, work which requires specialist knowledge on the part of the teacher. In some of these Schools, the men teachers who specialise in the physical training, and who are under 25 years of age, are being gradually called up for military service, and other members of the School staff will be called upon to cariy^ on the work. Special classes in physical training are now being arranged to meet the needs of these Senior Schools. ft. At the beginning of the year five Teachers' Classes were organised and conducted by the Committee’s Organisers of Physical Training. These classes dealt with the organisation and teaching of swimming and organised games, in addition to