Clay, from many points of view, is by far the most satisfactory modelling material available to us. It is comparatively cheap. It can be cleaned away with water. It is much pleasanter to work with than any manufactured material of my acquaintance, and it can be used over and over again. It is also the raw material of one of our major industries, and in using it children may well gain a knowledge of the material, which, if rightly developed, will help them to know good work from bad. In disfavour of clay is its messiness. It has a habit of getting into the most unlikely places, and sometimes one ends a lesson thinking "never again". It also requires provision for storage. If you can overcome the difficulties, however, the work is very well worth while. One solution to the problem of mess is to do much of this work in the summer, when there is at least a chance that it can take place in the playground.

It is perfectly possible to do really good work with clay, with no more equipment than a place to keep the clay and plenty of paper to cover things up. But it would, perhaps, be of value to consider the ideal provision for Primary school work. Then the reader can make use of whatever parts of the ideal come into the realms of possibility for her. In the minds of many, work in pottery is inseparable from work with a wheel. I do not think wheel pottery is suitable work for Junior children. This is not because the skills involved are beyond them, but because work with a wheel demands a high degree of skill in the teacher, a certain amount of individual coaching and considerable practice. This would mean working with very small groups of children, lots of equipment and lots of time, and I would question the value of placing so much emphasis on one aspect of one subject, for it certainly would need a great deal of emphasis if it were to be successful. One does not learn to throw a pot in five minutes. If, on the other hand, we develop skill with and knowledge of clay and give children the opportunity to make simple pots without a wheel, and to decorate and glaze them, then these children will be ready to make real use of the chance of working with a wheel if such an opportunity should come their way at a later stage.

The ideal for work with clay in a Primary school would be a room set aside for the subject, preferably one with direct access out of doors, for clay has a bad habit of leaving a trail. Some of the temporary classrooms still to be found in many schools would be excellent. Firm tables are needed, or benches —a good use for flat-topped desks too shabby for general use. Dustbins are as good as anything for storage. Two are needed, one for clay in good condition and in current use, the other for work which has been scrapped. A kiln is a must, if it can possibly be managed. With Infants and young Juniors, where work is quickly done and quickly forgotten, the fact that clay crumbles easily does not much matter, but older Juniors find it both disappointing and discouraging. At one time kilns were out of the question for most schools, for the cheapest were in the hundred-pound range. There are now quite a number on the market which are much more reasonable. If you can afford it, it is better to have two small kilns than one large one. It is obviously not economical to fire until you have a full load. If you have a large kiln, this often means you have to wait before firing, with all the consequent hold-ups with children's work, and a resultant falling-off of interest. With a small kiln you can have frequent firings and so keep up to date. Kilns can be fired by electricity or gas or by a furnace. My own preference is for electricity, which, with an unmechanical mind, I find easy to operate and keep in reasonable repair. Temperature can be measured with a pyrometer or with cones placed in front of a spy hole in the kiln. These are small white objects which bend over when the required temperature is reached. It is wise to use both until you know the kiln well. In any case, a pyrometer, if you can afford one (they are usually an extra), is worth having, if only so that you can send the uninitiated to look at the temperature and so avoid a journey yourself. You will need an assortment of "furniture" for the kiln—shelves made of fireclay, known as "bats"; props of one kind or another, so that you can arrange the shelves at a variety of heights, according to the work to be fired; and a number of small stilts which will enable you to stand work off the shelves and the floor of the kiln, for glaze is inclined to run down and may fix the pots to the kiln.

A useful thing to possess is a damp cupboard—a cupboard lined with zinc which will keep work damp from one lesson to another. Work can be kept quite well without this, however, if you have a large tin for each child. Work placed in these and covered with a thick damp cloth, or polythene, will keep indefinitely. It will even keep reasonably in the open, if kept covered with a thick cloth which is damped each day. Work which is unfinished, but which has dried prematurely, or which has broken before firing, can be brought back to a working state if it is kept wrapped in a damp cloth inside a tin for several days.