GREY TECHNICAL SCHOOL

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 June 1930, Page 3

GREY TECHNICAL SCHOOL

BOARD’S ANNUAL MEETING

The annual meeting of the Greymouth Technical High School Board of Managers was held last evening at the School, Mr. T. E. Coates presiding. There were also present Messrs J. B. Kent, A. J. Fairmaid, J. Goodall, W. T. Kyle, W. H. Parfitt, W. Blair, Dr. J. W. Mcßrearty and Mr. J. Hutton (Principal and Secretary). An apology for absence was received from Mrs. Shuttleworth.

The Principal’s action in accepting the tender of Baty Bros, for the supply of milk was endorsed.

The Principal stated that two of the applicants for the position on the staff vacated by Mrs. Campbell Board had withdrawn, having received other appointments, and that while in Christchurch he had * interviewed another applicant, Mr. F. D. Holmes and offered him the position as relieving teacher until the end of the year. Mr. Holmes had arrived and had taken up duties. The Principal’s action in filling the vacancy was endorsed. The Finance Committee’s monthly report was adopted. Accounts amounting to £5BO/11/2 were recommended to be passed for payment. A letter was received from the Department of Education in reference to the Board’s application for a- £3OO grant to cover the cost of cleaning up the Hostel Grounds, stating that it was not the Department’s usual policy to make grants for such work, but that a grant for fencing would be considered. The letter also stated that only urgent requirements should be placed before the Department, owing to the present financial stringency. The Principal made the suggestion that ■ the Board apply to the Borough Council asking to rent a strip a little over a chain wide along the frontage to the Hostel grounds, where a roadway had been provided for. He did not think that the Borough Council would use the whole width of the strip if a road were made, and if included in the Hostel boundary, the portion mentioned' would be cleared with the school grounds. Otherwise a high heap of gorse etc., in front of the fence and grounds would disfigure the work. The strip of frontage to the road could be granted and recalled at any time, and could be let at a nominal rental to the Board. On Mr. Kent’s motion it was decided to make application for the rental of the required piece of roadway. It was also decided, on Mr. Parfitt’s motion, that a letter be sent to the Borough Council expressing the Board’s appreciation of the work done in cleaning up the Hostel grounds entrance.

The Balance Sheet for the year ended December 1929 was returned by the Auditor-General without a “tag,” and adopted. The total income was shown as £B5lB/1/7 and included, an amount of £5,857/13/- in Government subsidies. The total expenditure was £8,339/5/-, the credit balance being £l7B/16/7. The Chairman referred to the low building maintenance account, which he stated to be very satisfactory. . „ A It was decided that in future the annual meeting - be held in June. The annual election of the Chairman then took place. Dr. J. W. McBrearty was nominated but declined, and Mr. T. E. Coates, was re-elected unanimously. Mr. Coates returned thanks. . n . r ■ Dr. J. W. Mcßrearty and Mr.. A. J. Fairmaid were appointed the Visiting Committee for the ensuing month. Reference was made by Dr. McBrearty to the proposal to alter the month of the Christmas school holidays from December, to February, the Principal stating the main obect of the move'rs in the scheme was to have the children free in what they considered the best and warmest month of the year, February. He (Mr. Hutton) thought that the argument was based more on one particuar February, which had been very good. Sir T. K. Sidey was at the back of the movement

PRINCIPAL’S MONTHLY REPORT

The Principal (Mr J. Hutton) re ported as follows for the period end ing June 13: — The second term commenced ou May 26. • In the Technical Hign School, organisation remains much as it was for lest term except that arrangements were made by me for Mr T. D. Holmes to take up the post rendered vacant by the departure of Mrs Campbell-Board. Sick leave was granted to Mr E. L. Kehoe on June 9 and 10. The surfacing of the courtyard has been completed up to a. point, pieparatory to tar sealing during tat Summer. In the evening school there are at. present seventeen classes. This term a fresh class in Invalid Cookery was started for hospital nurses at Hokitika. A similar, one is now concludisg its course of instruction at Greymouth. A fresh class has been commenced in Motor Engineering at Greymouth. The number of motor apprentices in Greymouth is not laige enough to provide any reserve and if those interested in the motor tiade wish the class to continue throughout the session keenness must be displayed by all interested, for if poor attendances result the class will probably be discontinued. It is a valuable class for apprentices and is in the capable hands of Mr G. M. Mitchell, our Engineering Instructor. A class is also being formed in Drawing and Design to meet the individual requirements of teachers, painters, and those in general trades where sketching and design work is of value as distinct from Mechanical Drawing. Taking the Evening Classes a whole, good work is being done. The I classes in Commercial work and in Dressmaking are particularly well attended. Of the Trades Classes those in Mechanical Drawing and Workshop practice are the strongest numerically. In the Plumbing Trade and in the Woodwork Trade the number of apprentices available is small and the attendances rather too spasmodic. There is 'a tendency too, to favour the classes in practical work rather than those in the theory of the trade. If there is to bo any differentiation the tendency should be the other way, because while the student docs practical work of some kind all day it is only at. tho Technical College he can secure the instruction in the theory and science that provide the background of his trade and that are so necessary for him if he is to secure any higher qualification. Tn the classes in general examination subjects such as English, Pure Mathematics, Practical Chemistry, French and Arithmetic the main difi ficulty is that the number of students I available is not quite enough to allow

a sufficient margin for the inevitable vacillation of one or two whose bad attendance or withdrawal imperils the existence of the class and whose attendance does not make for enthusiasm. The. continuance of a. really live and enthusiastic group of vocational classes is a matter of vital importance to any community, whether the fact is recognised or not by those immediately concerned for the time being. If it is so recognised then in a small community only enthusiastic co-operation between apprenticeship committees, the employers, the apprentices, the local bodies and the Technical College, can secure the necessary atmosphere of interest, enthusiasm, and helpfulness, that is so characteristic of the Evening School activities in our cities, andi that is so necessary if the classes are not only to continue their existence but to add to their usefulness and develop along suitable lines. While speaking of Trades Classes it is necessary to remember that the work done in Manual Training Classes by pupils of Standards V and VI, is in no sense trades work and it is not intended to be. In most districts this work is carried on by the Education Board. Here it has been found more convenient to merge the work done at Reefton, Hokitika, and Greymouth, with the work of the Technical High School and to detach instructors from the staff for special duties. The work is necessary and a valuable part of the training of the average girl and boy in and through .muscular activity and serves definite ends, but it is in no sense trades work, though it may

quite well reveal the aptitude of a pupil for practical pursuits. In reference to the paragraph on motor-trades classes, the Principal stated that enough were attending if all would stand to it and remain keen on keeping the work up. Many classes were in practically the same condition. The Department set a standard for the number of pupils to a class and many of the trades classes were just about level. There were, too, always a few individuals who enrolled at the beginning of the year with good intentions, but were missing at the end of six months. They had to allow a margin for this. The whole question of keeping the classes going was a matter which needed outside interest, and help on the part of the employers. Mr. Hutton also referred to the good work done for such classes in the city by Apprenticeship Committees, which had made for greater efficiency and raised the standard of vocational education. There did not seem to be much in that line done in Greymouth. The Principal, during further discussion, stated that no Technical School in N.Z. ever professed to teaching a trade in school. What it did do was provide for boys going into the trades, an essential knowledge of the science and theory which lay behind his work in the shop day by day. There was no such thing as a Trade School in New Zealand. There were in America. The Technical Schools aimed merely to give a background, and the schools, had definitely stated that the best place for a boy to learn his work was in the workshop under an experienced tradesman. At the school he learned the theory and science which were necessary in order to gain his registration certificates. This supplemented the practical training. Another difficulty in the way locally was that the low educational standard of some of the trades apprentices who attended the classes, necessitated teaching them elementary knowledge which should have been learned in Standard VI. of the primary school.