| AdminHistory | The Sites and Buildings Sub-Committee was appointed in April 1903 as one of the initial six standing sub-committees appointed by the Education Committee to undertake its work in the various areas of educational provision. As for all standing sub-committees, the Chairman of the Education Committee was ex-officio a member of the Sites and Buildings Sub-Committee.
The duties of the sub-committee were outlined at the first meeting. It was to arrange for the purchase of sites and the erection and maintenance of buildings belonging to the Education Committee; to provide plans of school accommodation; to oversee the work of the surveyors, architects and Clerk of Works involved in education building projects; to obtain estimates and contracts and administer the erection, alteration, repair, heating and ventilation of buildings; to arrange the terms on which school premises may be transferred to or from the Education Committee; to provide desks and other internal fittings in all schools and superintend the repair, cleaning and painting of all school premises; to oversee the employment of caretakers and their duties; to inspect the buildings and playgrounds of the Voluntary Schools and make recommendations to the Education Committee should improvements be required in accordance with the provisions of the Education Act, 1902; and to make arrangements with the Managers of Voluntary Schools with regard to supply and payment for fuel, gas and water and the costs of wear and tear on the buildings.
The Sites and Buildings Sub-Committee embarked on a programme of building and also of adaptation as the provision of new schools did not meet demand; many existing schools could be extended by adding on new classrooms. The situation was made more difficult in 1909 when a decree of the Board of Education stated specified that public elementary schools should provide 10 square feet of floor space for older children and 9 square feet for infants. The rule immediately reduced the amount of school accommodation in Birmingham and increased demands on the Sites and Buildings Sub-Committee.
The work of rebuilding and adaptation linked in with the internal organisation of the education system. The Hadow Report of 1926 recommended the provision of some form of post primary education for all children between ages 11 - 14, yet even before this date Birmingham had already devised plans for the building of schools based upon the separation of age groups in the new housing estates in the Stechford and Small Heath districts and in other areas. The Sites and Buildings Sub-Committee was consequently well prepared for the Education Act of 1944 which ended the overlapping system of elementary and higher education by introducing a three tier system of primary, secondary and further education, with accordingly designated buildings. The Sites and Buildings Sub-Committee became known as the Development and Buildings Sub-Committee from June 1971. |