Almost As Used To Be

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30632, 24 December 1964, Page 2

Almost As Used To Be

(From Our Oun Reporter) TIMARU, December 23. Blackheath, now a sports ground for community use, is much the same as it was when highwaymen frequented the area, harassing the coaches which travelled the old Roman road (Dover road) from London across the heath. But the heath, about four square miles in area, is no wsurroonded by the Greenwich park and observatory, modern flats, and some large industrial concerns.

A teacher studying education methods in New Zealand, Miss Jean Humphries, was born in The Village, Old Chariton, London. She lived for some time in Blackheath, which has a population of about 200,000 and, until recently, she was a relieving teacher at Woodbury, Geraldine County. Keen On Guiding She said that Old Chariton and Blackheath villages had been rapidly absorbed into the suburbs of London. A sea ranger (the girl’s equivalent of the Sea Scouts in New Zealand), Miss Humphries was captain of a girl guide company attached to St. Luke’s Church (Old Charlton), which dates back to 1200. Opposite the church is "The Bugle Horn,” an old inn, in which highwaymen's clothes and booty were recently discovered in the rafters when renovations were carried out Nearby is Charlton House, an Elizabethan manor, which has an association with the Royal Family. Miss Humphries worked in a children’s home outside London during the Second World War.

After the war, she taught in the London area, where she found teaching conditions in industrial areas - such as Woolwich and Greenwich “most satisfying,” in that she was able to assist children not only in the classroom, but also on the playing fields. For a time. Miss Humphries did some nursery teaching, nursery schools having been established to allow mothers to carry out essential war work. After teaching at infant schools, she took in emergency training in London, in response to a request for “pressure-cookers.” She has been teaching since 1947, in classes averaging 40 pupils. At Woodbury, where she was pleasantly surprised to be among “old friends”

(English birds of great variety and number), Miss Humphries taught a class of 16 children varying in age. She said experiments were being made in Great Britain with “family” grouping, to ascertain whether it was better socially for children of different ages to mix together. “Most Co-operative”

She has found New Zealand school-children most co-operative and friendly, and concerned for the welfare or the teacher.

It was a novelty to have her pupils coming to school on horse-back, to watch demonstrations of sheepshearing, and to study the country’s flora and fauna. Pet parades are also something which have delighted her in country districts.

Miss Humphries hopes to visit the North Island to obtain some experience of city schools before returning to Great Britain. She is especially interested in kindergarten work, and expects to advance her knowledge in this field.