Royal Institution for the Instruction of Deaf Children, Birmingham, Warwickshire

This alteration has been effected in order to meet a constantly, increasing pressure in the boys' department, as well as to give more room for school purposes, the accommodation for which has for some time been very inadequate, and quite insufficient for the proper and efficient carrying on of the instruction and training of the children. Under those circumstances Messrs. Bate man and Corser, architects, of Cherry Street, were consulted, and the alterations and extension have been carried out by the contractor, Mr. Briley, of Kingston Road, in accordance with their plans. These consist of an enlargement of the boys' day room by taking in the lavatory, and a good deal of much-needed additional space has been gained. Beyond the lavatory, the school room was formerly situated, but that has now been converted into an excellent, dry play-ground, by rebuilding the school room and placing it on the first floor over the play-ground. The floor of the latter is partly bricked and partly covered with sawdust and tan for gymnastic exercises, in which the boys take a good deal of delight. The large and commodious play-ground adjoins, and here again there are all the necessary appliances for the recreation, amusement, and physical development of the children. A much larger and better-ventilated lavatory has been obtained by this arrangement at one end of the covered playground; while at the other, between it and the day room, an assistant master's room has been provided, from which windows command the two play-grounds, the day room and the passage leading from the latter to the former. Complete supervision of the boys by lie assistant-master is thus secured, and the new arrangement is consequently a vast improvement upon the old one, affording, as it does, the means of enforcing the strictest discipline amongst the boys. These are excellent and important points gained by the recent alterations, and will greatly conduce to the good management of the institution. The school room, as already stated, has ben rebuilt and entirely rearranged, and is now on the first instead of the ground floor. It is reached by a flight of stone steps from the boys' day room, and it is a lofty, well-proportioned room, measuring 60 feet by 36 feet. The middle part of the floor is raised, in order that the children sitting at one row of desks may see over the heads of those in front of them, and running along three sides of this room, about on a level with the eyes of the children, is a series of tablets, upon which the lessons, or tho illustrations of tho lessons, are marked. At the end of the room is a platform, from which the whole of the children can be addressed at once. A minor arrangement, but one, perhaps, worth mentioning is the substitution of small stools at tho desks for the usual forms, taken from a plan adopted at the Orphanage, Erdington, and giving to each child a separate seat. But as economy enters into the whole conduct of the institution, so here again it is rigidly practised by the committee, for they only introduce the luxury of the separate seats as the old forms become worn out. The ventilation, too, has not been lost sight of, and, by the adoption of a plan recommended by the medical attendant, this important sanitary arrangement is both efficient and sufficient, and does not subject the children to the least inconvenience. To complete the arrangements for the school room, gas has been introduced, the principal part of the fittings being the grift of Messrs. R.W. Winfield and Co. 'These form the chief structural alterations; but, in order to make room for an additional number of children, the boys' dormitory over the day room has been enlarged, and it will now contain twelve more beds, giving the increased accommodation for the extra boys who will be admitted into the institution during the ensuing year. Each child has a separate bed, and the dormitories are well ventilated, and fitted up with every regard to the health and comfort of the inmates. The assistants' bed rooms, too, adjoin the dormitories, so that here, as in other parts of the institution, the strictest watch is kept upon the discipline of the children. A separate room is set apart as an infirmary, in which sick children are treated, but, although some of them are now absent through illness, those in the institution are all in good health, and the infirmary is therefore empty. The girls' department occupies one half of the building, and it is almost a counterpart of that of the boys', from which it is carefully separated by separate staircases leading to the dormitories, and by the rooms of the officers. On this side of the institution the only alteration is the enlargement and improvement of the laundry and wash-houses, and the work done there is by no means an unimportant part of the school training, for many of the girls become exceedingly good laundresses, and thereby able to get their own living after leaving the institution. The boys and girls have their meals in the same room which is also used as the girls' day-room; and even here the two sexes are not allowed to mix together, but have separate tables. The walls of this room are decorated with an excellent collection of pictures, giving, it a bright and cheerful appearance, and materially assisting, no doubt, in the formation of a taste for drawing, which is taught in the school.