The study hall seats ninety and is open from four until six and from half past seven until nine, Sunday to Thursday, and on Saturday mornings in examination terms.
It is compulsory for hostel students and open to everybody else, and about thirty day students use it every evening, mostly from grades ten to twelve. There is no charge.
What makes it work is dull and worth copying. A teacher is on duty every session, from a rota across all six departments, so there is always somebody who can answer a question in some subject. Telephones go in a box at the door. Nobody talks. The room is lit properly and has fans that work, which is not a small thing in a place where the alternative is a bedroom shared with three younger siblings.
That last point is the real argument for it. A day student here often has nowhere at home to work: a house of eight people, one table, and a television. Two quiet hours in a lit room with a teacher in it is the difference between homework happening and not happening, and it costs the school the duty rota and the electricity.
The subject clinics run in the same room on a published rota during examination terms, one department a night, and any student may come to any of them.