Senior pupils to be released on Nov. 29

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33687, 9 November 1974, Page 18

Senior pupils to be released on Nov. 29

All fifth, sixth, and seventh-form pupils at Christchurch State and private secondary schools will be released from school on November 29.

This decision has been reached unanimously by the Christchurch Secondary School Principals’ Association, and is expected to be ratified by the Department of Education, in spite of a recent departmental circular saying that schools must not release senior pupils before December 5. The circular said that if pupils left before December 5 they could have their sixth-form certificate cancelled.

The Acting Minister of Education (Mr Fraser) said yesterday that school principals could make a case to the Department of Education for an earlv closing of the

school year for senior pupils

The decision to allow pupils to leave school on November 29 will not apply to pupils in the third and fourth forms.

The principal of Ashburton College (Mr R. O. McDowell) said that the school would defy the Department of Education circular calling for all senior pupils to stay at school until December 5. A recent meeting of secondary-school principals from Canterbury and Westland, attended by the Director of Secondary Education (Mr P. W. Boag) had agreed to the early closing date of November 29 for senior pupils, Mr McDowell said. He described the department’s circular as “irresponsible,” and said that it would not alter the principal’s decision.