SECONDARY EDUCATION

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28895, 15 May 1959, Page 12

SECONDARY EDUCATION

Attitude Of Pupils

As it was harder for secondary school pupils to obtain employment when they left school, it had become a point of view among pupils that it was sound business to get a little more education than other pupils, Mr T. H. McCombs, headmaster of Cashmere High School, told the monthly meeting of the school’s board of governors last evening.

Throughout New Zealand half the pupils that passed the School Certificate examination left school immediately but at Cashmere last year 58 pupils passed the examination and at the beginning of this year 56 enrolled for the sixth Mr McCombs said.

“Only four left after passing, two from other schools enrolled, and we have two sixth forms, instead of one,” he said.

It was a tendency among employers to take on pupils who had passed School Certificate or had at least three years’ education. The apprentice regulations encouraged boys to stay at high school for three years by taking six months off the time of the apprenticeship and by starting them at higher pay, he said. Discussing the school roll for 1969, Mr McCombs said it was expected to be between 860 and 870—“ which the Education Department regards as an ideal size.”