Integrated Education At Geraldine High School

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30043, 30 January 1963, Page 17

Integrated Education At Geraldine High School

Education of. children from form I (standard five) to form VI will be fully integrated when the Geraldine High School opens next week with a new pattern of classes and instruction. Geraldine and Te Karaka (Hawke’s Bay) have been chosen for pilot schemes which may establish a new way of serving towns which are centres for a good number of satellite rural communities.

These schemes will bring v ithin comparatively easy reach all the benefits of a large high school with its special accommodation, specialist equipment, specialist teachers, and full range of classes, plus the opportunity to test the advantages of introducing enriched studies early in a school where pupils will progress without break through the whole of their senior schooling.

Geraldine and Te Karaka were district high schools with primary and secondary departments but forms I and II were staffed on primary schedules, supervised by primary inspectors, and administered as primary schools. From this year these lower classes will be recognised as post-primary for all purposes. 11 Contributing Schools

Last year the Geraldine secondary department was just over 200 but now the roll will be 430. Eleven primary schools (mostly small ones) are contributing form I and II pupils under an elaborate transport system which will bring them from as far away as Peel Forest. This is the first major advance in rural education since district high schools were set up. Bv consolidating forms I and II the Education Department has justified the addition of handsome new buildings and equipment; yet each contributing area will retain its primary school, recognised as the centre for each district.

The new form I and II pupils will not only have the advantages of integrated courses in such major subjects as English, social studies, science, mathematics, and languages, but the school will also have a more intimate early knowledge of pupils and thus be able to guide them more soundly in their progress. Besides these academic gains, cultural development will be aided by specialists in music, physical education, and arts and crafts. A much larger library will be built up. Not only will more Subjects be offered at form VI

but more teacher time will be given at this level. There will be improvements also in the size of classes. In the Geraldine District High School last year forms I and II exceeded 45. This year they are unlikely to exceed 36. Yet about haff the total roll will be in these classes. Subject Pattern There will be no divisions in theory or in practice. Every teacher will have some "primary” and some "postprimary” responsibilities. It could be that the School Certificate mathematics teacher will also take form H in this subject. Geraldine will not have courses as such. Form I, in addition to the usual subjects, will be introduced to science, French, horticulture, mathematics, and commercial practice. This exploratory year should lead to more effective selection at later options. By form II pupils will begin to elect some specialisation on a language group of studies, a horticultural group, or a commercial group amounting to three periods a week. These will be enriched according to the ability of those taking part. Up to School Certificate level pupils may take English, social studies, general science, physical education, music, art and craft plus options in French, core mathematics and commercial practice, woodwork and clothing. No Sudden Changes For tiie younger pupils there will be no sudden change to the post-primary pattern of different rooms and different teachers for each subject. The time-table has been arranged so that, say. the same teacher takes

English and then social studies in the same place, with a similar arrangement for science and mathematics.

Immediate physical advantages will include the doubling of staff, the doubling of laboratory space, the availability of two careers advisers to begin guidance from form I. a magnificent new block of specialist and general rooms, an enlarged library, and an assembly hall listed for next year. There is plenty of space as the Geraldine High School has 14 acres of playground, two and a half acres of river terrace, a 10-acre site for a hostel, and four acres in plantation with two teacher’s houses nearby, tenders accepted for two more and being called for yet another, and a hostel for six women teachers awaiting building authority. The new headmaster (Mr B. Ferrand) rates the continuity of education and earlier special knowledge of pupils as more important than the subject patterns to be used. Head’s Views “These two new-type high schools could bring a revolution in educational practice,” he said. "District high schools brought a form of rural education to country areas but here education could be specifically designed for rural needs. These needs have changed. For many years there has been a demand by rural communities for educational opportunities equal to those in the cities. "This equality of educational opportunity is no longer a myth. Indeed, in some ways, I think pupils here may be better off than their fellows in the cities,” said Mr Ferrand.