PHYSICAL TRAINING

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 145, 22 June 1938, Page 6

PHYSICAL TRAINING

SCHOOL CURRICULUM

INSPECTOR'S OPINION

A proposal recently made by the Wellington Headmasters' Association to the Education Board that Friday afternoons should be spent in physical education came before the meeting of the board toaay, when the report of Mr. D. McCaskill, the senior inspector, was adopted.

Mr. McCaskill said in his report that he had discussed the matter with his colleagues, and they were of the opinion that the suggestion to devote Friday afternoons mainly to physical activities was unsound, two hours on the last day of the school week being too long to devote to such activities. "The inspectors feel that there has been in some cases a tendency to neglect physical drill even during the quarter of an hour of the school day as at present arranged for the syllabus," remarked the report. "Again, proper assembly of pupils, brisk marching into school, and careful regard to the posture of the child throughout the whole school day will do much to improve the physique of the child in our schools."

The inspector's report advocated that a second hour per week for physical activities might be distributed over four days, allowing an extra quarter of an hour per day for physical work during the afternoons. As most schools took part in organised games, the last hour on Friday could be devoted to games along the lines suggested by the headmasters.