CREATIVE SCHOOL TO OPEN IN SEPTEMBER

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31412, 4 July 1967, Page 10

CREATIVE SCHOOL TO OPEN IN SEPTEMBER

Tamariki will be the name of the first creative education school or progressive school in the South Island. On similar lines to the Marie Bell School in Wellington, the primary school will have no corporal punishment, no prize-giving or other reward system, no religious training formally taught and no classes—all children of different age groups working together. “We want a school where it is possible for children to be more of individuals than it is possible at State schools,” the secretary of the Creative Education Society (Mrs J. Smith), said at the society's annual meeting.

“It must not be taken from that that we condemn State schools but rather that we prefer a private primary school on these lines,” said Mr J, Smith, one of the committee.

Eight aims of the school have been drawn up, among them the achievement of discipline and order, not by fear of punishment, but by mutual respect for the needs of the children and adults within the school.

Co-operation rather than than competition in work and play will be fostered in the school because the society feels that prize-giving is a negative spur to learning, according to the list of aims.

“The children will work at their own pace, they will gather in the group that is doing what it needs to do. There will be none of the idea of slow groups such as in State schools, but the children will be encouraged

to follow their natural curiosity and inventiveness to expand their knowledge,” Mrs Smith said. “Rather than just teach the children, they will be helped to learn in a homelike atmosphere in a cross-section of of age groups. .The reward will be in learning itself and it will be its own justification,” she said. To provide the best possible environment for the emotional, mental, academic and physical growth. of the child, and be a place where spontaneity and individuality will be looked for, so long as it does not interfere with the needs of others, are some of the other aims of the school. "The aims will not end in themselves but are designed to build character resilience, adaptability and initiative in the child and encourage self application,” said Mr P. Heal, a committee member. A teacher has been appointed for the school which will take the children to a stage where they can go to a standard high school. The school will open for one term this year with 11 pupils, but to keep the teacher-pupil ratio at the number required, no more than 20 children will be enrolled until another teacher is appointed. The name of the school. Tamariki, which means child or children, was suggested bySylvia Ashton Warner, who has been asked to be the society’s patron. Officers elected were:— Chairman, Miss R. Higinbottom; secretary, Mrs J. Smith; treasurer, Mrs J. Heal; committee, Mesdames M. Powell and I. Price, Messrs W. Croll, J. Smith and P. Heal.