Myra Lodge, though at first an anxiety, was before long not merely a success, but also a help to the school. In a note written at the end of 1873 Miss Buss remarks—
“It seems that I have paid from Myra, in fees (paid by her for her boarders), just about £850 in these three years: £200, £232, and £410, and I have received in all (from the school) £1600. So your head-mistress has not been a costly article!”
Counting the value of furniture, as well as the balance of salary not accepted, Miss Buss gave during this period not less than £1000, besides paying the £850 in fees from Myra. After the removal of the Upper School from 202, Camden Road, as the lease was still in her possession, she supervised a Preparatory School, the profits of which—£1500 in all—she handed over to the governing body, thus supplying funds for the gymnasium. Nor was this all; she made in addition to these gifts several very helpful loans, without which the work must have come to a standstill. Early in 1873 an entry on the minutes records the thanks of the Governors—
“The Board wish to record their strong sense of the generosity and public spirit shown by Miss Buss, when she last year pressed the Board to take on mortgage the ground and building in Sandall Road, for the enlargement of the North London Collegiate School, and when, in March last, she proposed that a considerable sum should be laid out in enlarging the building in Sandall Road; Miss Buss in both cases sacrificing the additional income which would have been hers, and undertaking at the same time still greater responsibility and harder work.”
Under the new scheme Miss Buss’ own school remained as the Upper School, but was removed to 202, Camden Road, leaving the former premises in Camden Street, with most of the furniture and “school plant,” for the new Lower School, of which the fees were fixed at £4 4s. per annum, for a thorough education up to the age of sixteen years.
All the provisions of the scheme were in accordance with those proposed by the Endowed Schools Commission, and it was intended that the fees should meet only the working expenses, the buildings being supplied by some endowment. For the Lower, or Camden School, the sum of £5000 was considered sufficient, and it was not unnaturally imagined that this moderate amount might be supplied by the same generous public which had given £60,000 for a similar school for boys. For the Upper School only £1000 was asked to supply the furniture left behind in Camden Street, for the use of the Lower School.
In September, 1871, Miss Buss says of the Camden School—
“No furniture has been paid for at all; the school is poorly supplied, and the teachers are badly paid. Instead of being rent free, we pay £115 per annum, and rates, amounting at least to £20 more.
“It is clear to me that all such schools need—First, to be rent free; second, to have an endowment, largish or small, to keep the buildings in repair and to offer scholarships; third, to have all the school furniture and fittings given. Then, but not till then, can the teachers be fairly paid, and the trustees free from anxiety. For such a purpose, I imagine five or six thousand pounds are wanted—say, £4000 for building, £1000 for furniture, apparatus, and the rest for repairs, etc.
“For the Higher School the same kind of thing is wanted, only on a more extensive scale, as furniture and fittings must be more expensive. The higher fees would still be required to meet the demand for higher teaching. According to my notions, gymnasiums are needed for every school, and large places for swimming.”