STIRLING SCHOOL.

Clutha Leader, Volume XX, Issue 1032, 4 May 1894, Page 3

STIRLING SCHOOL.

ANNUAL REPORT. Your committee have pleasure in presenting to this meeting of householders of the Stirling district their report of th-mr proceedings for year ending 31st March 1894. Finance. — Receipts: Your committee began with a credit balance of L 2 6s sd, receipts from Education Board L 29 19s, rents for use of school L 3 15s, collection for prizes L 9 16s, proceeds (net) of concert L 8 ss; total L 54 Is sd. Expenditure : Cleaning school and outbuildings L2l 16s, fuel for school use L 3 15s 9d, repairs to buildings, fences, f urniture. L 9 4s lid, tanks and filters L 8 lis 2d, prizes LIO lis 7d, sundries, 2s ; total L 54 ls sd. During the year 10 meetings have been held, at the first of which Mr Thos. Parker was appointed chairman, and Mr George M'Donald secretary and treasurer. The other members of the committee are : — J. O. Anderson, G. Anderson, A. E. Farquhar, W. Smith, and P. M 'Skimming. As has been the custom for the past few years tenders were called for the janitorial work, combined with the duty of attending to the opening, lighting, and closing of the school on every occasion when the school is used for meetings. Five tenders were received, and the lowest, that of Mrs Cameron, was accepted. Arbor Day.— As in the past year the difficulty of getting suitable public ground for tree-planting confronted your committee. Rather than allow the occasion to pass without making some effort to inculcate a love for treeplanting, your committee determined to accept an offer by Mr M'Donald to plant trees, provided by himself, on private land. Messrs Butters and Gray (Kaitangata) generously presented a number of trees, some of which were planted on school ground and some at Mr M'Donald's. The planting was successfully performed, and Messrs Parker, J. O. Anderson, P. M 'Skimming, and W. Mosley appropriately and earnestly addressed the children. At the close of the day's proceedings a service of fruit,provided by the members of committee and a few friends, was handed to the children. Repairs and improvements — The matter of the supply of pure drinking water at the school again came 11 p for consideration. The filters provided last year proved quite inadequate to cope with the requirements of the children, and this, coupled with the fact that ,the tanks were found to be receptacles for an astonishing amount of bird-filth, compelled your committee to take some action. Accordingly a system of filtering the water by passing it through layers of graded gravel and collecting pans devised ancl planned by the head master was considered and unanimously adopted. These improvements and the necessary alterations about the tanks, together with ordinary and necessary repairs to the school buildings, were carried out at a cost of Ll2 10s Id. This new system of filtering the water is a pronounced success, and the committee congratulate the householders on at last coping with the ill effects of the bird nuisance. During the year your committee has placed a bath ia position in one of the rooms of the school residence. As you are aware the school was closed for several weeks at intervals during the months of May, June, and July owing to the measles epidemic. Your committee gave great consideration to the matter of closing the school at that time, and having considered the matter in all its bearing 3, unanimously agreed to the course adopted. Your committee is pleased to report that the closing of the school had no ill effect on the standard examinations held in October. Your committee also congratulate the district on the fact that there occurred no deaths among the children during that trying period. Concert. — On the 30th March was held the annual concert in aid of school funds. The concert realised L 8 9s net. District residents, with one exception, provided the programme. Your committee thanked individually the volunteers, and now ask you at this meeting to publicly thank them. - | Attendance — The attendance for the past year has not been as high as that j of former years. 1

Your committee trust that the regular school attendance for which, in the past this district has been noted, will again be secured and maintained. Without regular attendance it is needless to | point out that not only is the progress of the absent pupil hundred, but also that of the class of which he is a member. Without a much larger staff of teachers it is quite patent that the children are not and cannot be individ- j ually taught. They are taught in ! classes, and hence the absence of one or j more members is severely felt by the I teacher and members of the class, j especially by the absent members. Staff. — Your committee are pleased to place on record the results of the year's work by the staff of our school. Notwithstanding the serious breaks in j the year's work caused by the measles

j epidemic, the results of the year's teaching are equal in all respects to those of former years in which there were no breaks. This satisfactory state of affairs must redound to the credit of the teaching staff. Your committee take this opportunity of publicly thanking the head master, Mr C. R. Smith, as well as those under hini for the very efficient and able manner in which the Stirling school has been conducted during the past year. As regards the pupil teacher, Miss Gow, we are pleased to report that she was first in her class at the late pupilteacher examination held in Milton. Messrs Taylor and M'Kinlay, late pupil-teachers of our school have now successfully matriculated and passed both E and D teacher's examination with credit. These facts indicate the teaching powers of the staff of Stirling school to be of the highest order.

Eoll Average Average Number attendance, d'ly abs'nce lstQ'art'r 145 118 27 2nd „ 147 121 26 3rd „ 151 126 25 4th „ 141 122 19