tytfletliuen School 85 'Ljeaf'S OU

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31320, 16 March 1967, Page 23

tytfletliuen School 85 'Ljeaf'S OU

The Methven school will celebrate the eighty-fifth anniversary of its establishment over the Easter week-end. v v

The celebrations will bring to the township many visitors. The chairman of the jubilee committee, Mr H. W. Lock, said last week-end that 460 had registered to attend, more than 400 had indicated that they would go to the banquet, and registrations were still coming in.

The bath has been extended to 33 l-3rd yards in length, a filtration plant has been installed, two solar weirs provide heating for the water, new seating has been erected and all building on the site are new. The baths belong to the Education Board but outside school hours they are looked after by the Methven Swimming Club and with the new facilities the club has had one of the best seasons for many years with many adults using the facilities at week-ends. When Methven first became a district high school in 1925 the Presbyterian Sunday School and the Public Library were at first used to accomodate the department, but subsequently the high school was quartered in a portable room, now used as a film room, which was provided by the Education Department, and in 1934 a new three-classroom block was occupied. Between that time and the early 1950 s there was not much change in the face of the school, but then with the expanding roll numbers associated with the postwar increase in the birth rate the school committee became increasingly involved in urging on the appropriate authorities the provision of additional accommodation. So that as well as a school roll explosion at Methven there has also been a building explosion. The current headmaster of the school said the other day that of the nearly eight years he had been at the school builders had been working at the school for more than seven years. In 1955 one room was added to the secondary department and in 1957 a new primary school block of four rooms and administration and staff quarters was opened by the Minister of Education at the time, Mr Algie, now Sir Ronald Algie. Again in 1960, by which time the primary roll was more than 400 and the secondary roll in excess of 100, two new primary rooms and three secondary rooms, including a well-equipped laboratory, were opened by another Minister of Education, Mr Skoglund. At this time also considerable extensions and improvements were made to both the woodwork and home science rooms.

The jubilee proceedings will begin at the school on the Saturday afternoon with such traditional ceremonies as the ringing of the school bell, breaking of the flag, roll call, cutting of the jubilee cake and planting of the jubilee oak. There will, of course, be some addresses *s well. There will be a banquet that evening and on Sunday afternoon there will be a church parade at the school to which old pupils will march in their decades. Representatives of the First World War and the Second World War will lay wreaths at the memorial arch at the entrance to the school and at the service, in which Presbyterian, Anglican, Methodist and Roman Catholic clergymen will participate, the guest speaker will be Professor Miles Kennedy, of Canterbury University, who is an old pupil of the school and the son of a former headmaster of the school, Mr A. S. Kennedy (1922 to 1943)—Mr Kennedy will be the oldest headmaster at the jubilee. A picnic will be held on Easter Monday and it is expected that it will be at the Staveley Presbyterian camp site, and the celebrations will be wound up with a ball in the evening. Among the earliest pupils expected to be present are Mr Ernest Butt, who started school in 1883—only a year after the school was established—Mrs H. Cranfield, of Christchurch, who as Mary Patton was a pupil at the school in 1885—her father, Robert Patton, was incidentally the first chairman of the school committee and the man who gave Methven its name, having come from Methven in Scotland —and Mrs John Campbell, who as Lucy Duff went to Methven school in 1886, and who was later a pupil teacher from 1896 to 1902. Apart from Mr Kennedy, another former headmaster, Mr G. C. C. Chapman-Cohen, who was in charge from 1949 to 1953, is expected from Nelson, and other former teachers at the school who will be at the jubilee will include Mr A. Gourley, who will be coming from Auckland, and Mr R. Allen, who was at the school from 1919 to 1928. Miss A. L. Grubb, who was a teacher in the secondary part of the school

from 1930 to 1950, is coming from Tasmania. The jubilee committee has been able to raise enough money by donations to enable her to make the trip. Methven school has grown greatly over the years. It was opened on February 7, 1882, in Jackson street, next to where the Presbyterian Church now stands. The roll was 41 and the first headmaster was Mr James Murray and the first mistress, Miss Isabella F. Murray. In 1892 the roll was 102; 1902, 113; 1912, 116; and 1922, 233. The school became a district high school at the beginning of 1925 and by 1932 the roll was 296; 1942, 250; 1952, 298; 1957, 440; and now it is close to 600, and the headmaster, Mr C. W. Reid, believes that, with the intake of five-year-olds and the increasing trend over the last two years for secondary pupils to stay on over the whole of the year, the overall roll could exceed the 600 mark by the end of this year. The peak roll in the primary section of the school is now about 400 and with the secondary department roll up by 23 this year r is now 185. In the next few years a steady expansion of the secondary school roll to well over the 200 mark is expected. From the two teachers in 1882 the school staff has increased to the stage that today there are 22 full-time ana two part-time teachers. Other people on the staff include a full-time clerical assistant, a part • time teachers’ aid, three dental nurses, who also serve subbases at the neighbouring Lyndhurst and Lauriston schools, a caretaker, three part-time cleaners, a mechanical supervisor at the bus garage and an assistant mechanic. In all more than 30 persons are involved in various aspects of the running of the school. More than half of the children attending Methven District High School come by bus. There are seven school bus routes and about 320 children come to school by these services. Another 50 also travel to the Convent school by these vehicles, the largest of which are two 90-passenger machines.

The school apparently had the pioneer school bus service in Canterbury, if not in New Zealand. A privatelyoperated bus service serving the Barkers road area was instituted in 1916 and the old Model T bus able to carry about 16 children was a familiar sight on the Methven district roads for many years. Great changes have taken place in the school buildings, particularly in recent years. Mr Reid said the other day that in the last 10 years something like £130,000 had been spent at the school. Improvement of the facilities in the secondary department is the latest project and this work has been in progress lately at the cost of several thousand pounds. The original school opened in 1882 was destroyed by fire in 1916. Classes were conducted in the Anglican and Presbyterian Sunday Schools until new buildings were erected on the present site in 1917. The original five acres of grounds has grown to about 18 acres and negotiations are in train at present for the purchase of more ground. The dental clinic, begun in 1931 and financed in part by donations from Methven, Highbank, Lyndhurst, Lauriston and Alford Forest districts, has now been extended and the new threenurse clinic service is also responsible for two subbases at Lyndhurst and Lauriston schools. In 1929 a swimming baths was provided on the school grounds and a war memorial arch erected at the entrance to the school grounds. In recent years the baths had deteriorated in condition and as a result of a most commendable district effort most attractive enlarged and renovated baths were opened in December last year. The project involved the expenditure of more than £BOOO, of which about £6OOO was raised in the district, partly by direct donations, partly by the Methven Festival Committee and partly by the Methven Jaycee organisation. This sum was augmented by a grant of £2OOO from the Canterbury Education Board and £6OO from the Golden Kiwi lottery.

And so the rash of buildings and change went on. In 1965, a new secondary block of three classrooms, typing rooms, toilets and changing rooms for pupils was opened by the present Minister of Education, Mr Kinsella. And builders have lately still been at work at the school. When the present additions and alterations to the 1935 secondary block are completed, the school will still be one room short for catering satisfactorily for the present secondary roll of 185 with 10 full-time and two part-time teachers. Only one pre-fabricated building is now left on the school site. It is needed for the sixth form which is now growing in size. This year there are 12 in the sixth form, including two in the Upper sixth. Next year there could be 15 or 16 or more. This is the second year that pupils have remained for a second year in the sixth. This happened for the first time two years ago and the two pupils then went on to university and one is doing well for a law degree. The school is now conscious of the fact that it has reached the stage where it is able to satisfy most needs up to university level. There is a big demand from pupils to sit the School Certificate examination —numbers range from about 20 to 40 a year—and over the last 17 years some satisfaction is derived out of the fact that the proportion of successes has been running quite a few per cent above the New Zealand average.