OVERCROWDING SECONDARY SCHOOLS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 50, 28 February 1923, Page 9

OVERCROWDING SECONDARY SCHOOLS.

(To the Editor.) ,<=j r .—The suggestion thrown out by Professor Thomas that the best method of relieving the congestion of the unwieldy Grammar School is the establishment of a secondary school on the northern shores of the harbour has been already anticipated by the scholastic authorities of Northcote, Recently a deputation 'waited upon the Minister of Education, and submitted to Mm a scheme whereby the present seliool that serves both Northcote and Birkenhead could be converted into a junior high school at a minimum of expense, both in huilding and in staffing. He recognised that the conditions were ideal for the purpose, since the districts are practically self-contained, and the schools so i rapidly approaching repletion as to necessitate enlargement at a very early date. Not only is this the case, but it is quite easy to place the whole of the educational facilities of the community under one executive control, and also allow the direction of both primary and secondary teaching to be under the same director, thereby securing co-ordination of studies from the moment of entry until leaving the secondary department. At present there are three establishments in the charge of the headmaster. The new scheme merely adds an additional class atuj a somewhat wider curriculum, This plan is only the forerunner to the foundation of a fully-equipped grammar school, to which the district.primary schools would be the feeders. Were such a school established at Northcote in 1024, about 300 pupils would 'be ready for the secondary department, and approximately 600 would be in the two primary schools at Birkenhead and Northcote, while the secondary schools of the city would be relieved of the attendance of some SO children, and they of the wastage of time and expense in travelling.— i am, etc.,

NORTHCOTE. (To the Editor,} Sir,->~I read with astonishment. Mr, Drummond's proposal that he should transfer to the Mount Albert Grammar School those boys who failed to pass the Senior Free Place examination. Also Professor Thomas' remark that it is virtually raising the standard of admission thus transferring them. Surely it was never intended to have a dis? Unction of that kind between the two Grammar schools. It is fair neither to the masters nor the scholars at Mount Albert school, and should not be tolerated. —I am, etc., A PABEIST.