SCHOOL PROGRESS

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 104, 3 May 1924, Page 9

SCHOOL PROGRESS

COMMITTEES' REPORTS

IMPROVEMENTS AT LYALL BAY,

The annual report of the LyaH Bay School Committee states that for several years it had been necessary to rent church rooms to provide for the large surplus of scholars over the capacity of the school buildings proper. After numerous representations the Department had during the past year added two rooms to the infant school. This had enabled the head teacher to assemble all the classes in the school, and would ensure proper supervision and better organisation. A bubble drinking fountain had also s been, provided. Other additions would require early attention by the incoming committee.

Tiie vexed question of the western approach had been disposed of during the year. The rough surface had been attended to, and the asphalted portions of the playground top-dressed. During the year the committee arranged for the erection of playground equipment, consisting of rock-a-bye swing, horizontal ladder, Roman rings, trapaze, and horizontal bars, at a cost of about £166. Half the amount was raised by voluntary subscriptions and it was expected that the Department would grant a £ for £ subsidy as a grant had been given to Aiiramar School for a similar purpose. There has been somo hitch, however, and it is not certain whether 'the balance will be a liability for. the new committee to shoulder or otherwise. The departmental decision is that subsidies for equipment of the nature, referred to must be limited to £25. The committee is urging that this decision should not be made retrospective.

The committee strenuously opposed a proposal, to which the City Council had consented, which would have permanently narrowed Queen's drive between Cockburn and Coutts streets. The result was a stoppage of the work, and every effort was now being made to secure widening of this narrow street at the points named, and the provision, of a footpath. The record of the school for proficiency in swimming had been ' easily eclipsed during the year. The certificates gained far exceeded those of all.other Wellington schools; and' would probably top the record for New Zealand.

, The high standard of achievement in education for which the school had earned a first-class reputation had been added to hy another- successful year. The committee was grateful to Mr. A. C. Blake and his execellent staff, for the thorough and faithful tuition given, and unhesitatingly said that, the parents of the schoLii'3 at Lyall Bay are indeed fortunate in Uieir school and the teaching staff. The discipline of the scholars has | been excellent and the good name of the school has.not been marked in any way. KELBURN NORMAL SCHOOL,. On Wednesday evening a large number of parents attended the annual meeting of the Voluntary. Committee of the ivelburn Normal School in the Training College Hall. Mr. Paterson, chairman of the committee, reported that the excavation of the playground had been successfully carried out. and that arrangements should now be made for its suitable surfacing and the concreting of the banks. In thanking the- committee for its assistance in the past, the headteacher, Miss . Maitland, pointed out the great value of all such voluntary effort, and stressed the point that education was not a matter that might be confined between the hours 9 a.m. to 3.30 p.m. The proper education of the child, that 13 his development, concerned his whole life and hours spent outside the school walls were just as important as those spent wathin. The part played by teacher and parent should be the stimulation of desirable interests for the occupation of leisure as well as for the business side of We The recent remarks of the Prince of Wales at a gathering of educationists was well in point. "I consider," he said, "the proper and profitable use'of spare time plays a very largo part in education nowadays. To do things worth doing by ourselves, and because we want to do them—that only is the right way to use one's leisure. All that is necessary is opportunity." There were teachers who were already 1 doing much voluntary work in this direction, as was evidenced by the musical programme rendered during the evening Iby the school's choir and orchestra under Mr and Mrs. Meffan. She was pleased that many parents had expressed a desire to render assistance, for where teachers I and parents co-operated in a common purpose the possibilities were almost illimitable. She felt that the time was ripe when the Voluntary Committee might extend the scops of its work to insure the co-operation of all parents by the formation.of an association of parents and teachers. l Such associations were doing wonderful work m other countries, particularly m Great Britain and in America. Their purpose was to establish a mutual understanding between home and school in all I ™{l* pertains to the common respond-bility-tho education o f the child-arid to '< contribute by personal effort whereby activities supplementary to the regular i-ca e °d °- misht b* orsaniscd ™« ■The meeting unanimously decided to form such an association, and the follow ing were elected a committee to act as an executive. Mesdames Bri4 w Lean, M,ss Maitland. Messr^ fcullen L-Dcon, Morgan, MacKenzie, Wilton EdEASTERN HUTT SCHOOL. The annual report of the committee ot the Eastern Hutfc School revfeC t£ progress of the past year in detail. In--1915 states the report, the school was started as a separate unit with 283 children on the roll. At present the roll number is 597, and the average attendance for the. year has been 526, which Grade 7B The chief, event of the year had been the building of additional classrooms, which it was expected, would be available for occupation before the end of the first term. The Department is criticised for its building policy and ;the orientation" of school buildings i.c the additional rooms being set obliquely to the main buildings is not considered by the committee to have in any manner improved the appearance of the 1 school and grounds. The school, the report continues, is sadly lacking in the ordinary conveniences enjoyed by other schools; for 600 pupils only four lavatory basins arc provided, and no basin whatever is providI e,l for tho school staff.

"There is a room eight feet by nine feet that js the only room in ' either school in addition, to the. ten classrooms Jhe headmaster uses as an office'-what is left of it after storm? books and material that are crowded into it because there is nowhere else to put'the goods .there is no teachers' room for a staff oi fifteen, nor a single cupboard for the teachers' use. The original plan for the nita-nt school that, was erected yea*, ago included a teachers' room, ft was never built, and our successive efforts for tl'.e sake of the staff have been turned down tune after time. Though the board has planned it several, times, thu tpadici'.- ruom lias hecti cut rut "m axcui-cUuiue .with the policy cii the J^

partment, A headmaster's room is, we are pleased to say, being now built. The two small shelter sheds originally provided are still all the outside accommodation there is, and it is apparently useless to ask for reasonably-sized sheds. What is the result of this lack of sheds? ivery t;me a shower of rain comes and the children are out of doors they must be allowed m the school rooms." Ihe Valley residents were still without adequate secondary education, and representations to the Minister of Education were again to be made with a view to securing a grant to enable the immediate building of the Hutt Valley High School. J

Ihe school, under Mr. M'Bain and his staff, concluded the report, has made successful and happy progress.