NEWTOWN SCHOOL

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 85, 9 April 1936, Page 4

NEWTOWN SCHOOL

SUCCESSFUL YEAR

A successful year is reviewed in the annual report of the committee of Newtown School. The total average roll is now 600, compared with 631 the previous year, and the average attendance was 575, compared with 505.

Twenty-eight boys out of thirty-six gained* proficiency certificates, and seven competency certificates; of the thirty-one girls who were presented, twenty were given proficiency certificates, and seven competency.

In the report, the staff of nineteen, under Mr. W. Hickson, were thanked for their diligent and efficient supervision, both in school and on the playing fields. " The school had been ably represented in all branches of sport. Of particular interest was the awarding of prowess certificates for swimming, seventysix boys and forty-two girls gaining them for distances of from 25yds to 880 yds. . ■ "Capitation has been causing the committee some anxiety," states the report, "the amount received being inadequate to pay the expenses for' the upkeep of the school. The committee recognises that the system of basing capitation allowance on average attendance is wrong; a more equitable way would be on floor space, as the same amount of cleaning has to be carried out whether the attendance is large or smalL It is fully recognised that a serious position is being created so far as school committee grants . are concerned, and that it would not be possible for some committees to meet their legitimate obligations without special assistance beyond the Government scale. A secondary school receives about four times the amount of capitation that a primary one does. It is to be hoped that the Government will increase the grant immediately, as the committees ' are at - present saddled with a budget of unpaid accounts." , . The re-entry of five-year-olds meant an increase of 10Q to the roll.