A RETIRING TEACHER.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2018, 27 March 1914, Page 3

A RETIRING TEACHER.

FAREWELL TO MISS M. RYDER, A very pleasant little fmiction .took place at the- Newtown School, Riddifon! Street, yesterday afternoon, when the teaching staff and members of the School Committee teak farewell of Miss M. Ryder, the senior assistant-mistress on the staff, who is retiring on superannuation after a quarter of a century's faithful service in the school.

Mr. H- A. Parkinson, headmaster of the school, iu a felicitous speech, spake in high terms of Miss Ryder's service to the school, and on behalf of the staff and the pupils presented her with a serviceable travelling ease am! handbag. . Mr. _ Castle, on behalf of the School Committee, added his appreciation of Miss Ryder's -work in the school, and, apropos of hor intention to travel abroad for a time after her retirement, remarked, that it would be a very good thing, in the interests of public "education, if senior teachers eotiki be permitted to go abroad and got first-hand knowledge of school methods and educational (ruestians in other countries. This freshening exnerioiiec.said Mr. Castle, would be a distinct gain to their pupils when they resumed their duties after their return.

Mrs. W. A. Evans said that Miss Ryder was fortunate in teomue, as she had every reason to know, that her work in tbe school during her long period of servico had earned for her the appreciation of tho community, for alio tetl contributed in a very largo measure indeed to the making of good, citizens. Mrs. Evans expressed tlie hope that Miss Ryder would not lose touch with educational matters in her retirement, bat that she would continue to assist, by active' association with institutions concerned with education and kindred questions, in the advancement of' social causes.

Miss Ryder, in hor reply, emphasised the importance of associating moral teaching with the general, work of the school. It had. always been her aim, she said, to stimulate- tho best and higher insfciiwsts of children by constant attention to their moral development. Afternoon tea was dispensed by the lady members of the staff", and the proceedings were concluded by the singing of "Atild Lang Syne."