CITY IMPROVEMENTS.

Evening Post, Volume LXIV, Issue 141, 11 December 1902, Page 2

CITY IMPROVEMENTS.

o THE NEW TERRACE SCHOOL. The newly-erected Terrace School, which, is now ready for occupation, has not a handsome or even pretty exterior, but it is a substantial-looking building, and is conspicuously situated. Phcenix-iike, it has risen out of the ashes of the old school, which, was destroyed by fire on the 24th. of June of last year, and it I stands out plainly in. view of pedestrians along most of the city's thoroughfares, situated as it is immediately behind the Wellington Club. It is interesting to recall that it was upon the site of the Terrace School that the Grammar School —the predecessor of Wellington Collegewas erected in about the year 1868. The original premises were vacated 111 favour of the present College buildings somewhere about the year 1876, and the Grammar School buildings then became the Terrace Public School. The original building had had additions prior to 1881, but in that year the school, was almost entirely rebuilt. It was the_ old Grammar School and the additional State School buildings which weie destroyed last year. It is also interesting to note that Mr. M'Morran, the present head teacher of the Terrace .School, joined that institution early in 1884, and has been identified with its progress to tais day In 1884 the school had 250 scholars —at the time of the fire there were 570 on the roll. There is accommodation for 600 scholars in the new school, but it is not anticipated that moie than 570 will be on the roll when work is resumed ■after the holidays. If the exterior of the- new school^ will not win the admiration of lovers of the beautiful in architecture, there can be no two opinions about the interior and its arrangement. The rooms and corridors are airy, spacious, and lofty, tho ceilings having a height of 16ft. Mr. W» Turnbull, the architect, has adapted not a few of the most modern ideas in school buildings, and the builder (Mr. A. J. Rand) has carried out the ideas admirably. The lighting, ventilation, and drainage have all won the approval of experts The construction of the windows is such that no matter from which quarter of the compass the wind blows, there will be fiee access of air without inconvenience to teachers and scholars. The walls of the classrooms are all painted with the pale green tint which is recommended by medical and educational experts as the tint most suitable for the eyes of the young. A portion of the floor of each classroom has been given a slope, instead of the old system of terraces, and the children's dusks have been altered to suit the new system. Another noticeable innovation is the utilisation of' nearly the whole of one side of each." room (to a depth of three or four feet) as a fixed blackboard. This will reduce the use of the movable easel and blackboard to a minimum, and will also greatly facilitate the work of teachers in illustrating, lessons. Several of the classrooms are So constructed as to accommodalb two classes, a barricade forming the division betweeii each. The largest room in the school is that set apart for the infants, and has a space of 48ft x 29ft. There are nine classrooms on, the two floors, and besides these there is a private room for the head teacher, one each for the men and women teachers,, a science room, and a kitchen. . The -last-named two rooms' are not yet equipped, but in a, short time the school will have its laboratory and the kitchen lor the cookery classes. The school committee, with an eye to cultivating a taste for art, has secured a large number of veiy fine black-aivd-white pictures, which have been neatly framed for hanging in the classrooms. The commodious corridors which run dowii the centre of each floor are lined with racks for the hats. and coats of scholars, and each hook is numbered. There are 243 such hooks in the upstairs corridor and 224 downstairs. The 'lavatories are well and neatly arranged. On the top floor, at the northern end, there is a door which gives access, over a bridge, ,to the girls' playground, and will ensure the q,uick egress of children in the event of a panic. There is a lack of playground, but it is thought that this want will be supplied, so far as the boys are concerned, by the close proximity of Kelburne Park, and negotiations are under way to secure a near-by private tennis court for the use of the girls. The banks behind the school have been covered by a strong concrete wall, and all the ground has been, ■asphalted. The upper playground is reserved solely for girls, and a shelter shed has been erected upon this ground. The whole of the' windows on the western (the playground) side of the school have been covered with wire netting, to save the constant breaking of glass which would result from blows from balls when the children are at play. The Terrace School Committee and the Education, Board may well be proud of and pleased with the neAr school.