The study hall was built for the hostel: sixty four students, two supervised sessions a night, a teacher on duty.
Opening it to day students was suggested by a grade eleven student at a student council meeting, who pointed out, in front of the principal, that she shared a room with three younger siblings and a television and had not done a full evening's work at home in two years.
It was opened the following term with nothing spent except the duty rota and the electricity. About thirty day students use it every evening, mostly grades ten to twelve, and in the fortnight before examinations it is full.
What makes it work. A teacher on duty from a rota across all six departments, so there is always somebody who can answer something. Telephones in a box at the door, which was a student council rule rather than a school rule and is enforced by the students themselves. Silence. Proper light and fans that work.
What we measured. Homework completion in grades ten to twelve, which had been the subject of a good deal of complaint from every department, rose sharply in the two terms after it opened, and the departments stopped raising it at the staff meeting. That is a crude measure and it is the one we have.
The subject clinics now run in the same room on a published rota during examination terms, one department a night, open to any student. Those were the students' idea as well.
