GREY TECHNICAL SCHOOL

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 February 1942, Page 3

GREY TECHNICAL SCHOOL

BOARD OF GOVERNORS. ! The Board of Governors of the Greymouth Technical High School met last evening, there being present: Messrs T. E. Coates (chairman), J. B.! Kent, E. B. E. Taylor, D .S. Kennedy,! A .A. Adams, C. F. Shapcott, P. J. I McLean, T. Pratt, Mrs C. H. Lindsay,; and the Principal, Mr W. M. Stewart, i Accounts amounting to £246/14/8, were passed for payment. The school, balance-sheet showed a credit balance of £BB6/6/7. i The Canterbury Education Board, wrote advising the Board of the details of the tenders received for the erection of the School Assembly Hall, and asking the Board to decide if it would approach the Department for a subsidy to enable the work to pro-; ceed, or whether the Education Board should do so. —It was decided to advise the Department of the correspondence from the Education Board, and to state that the Board of Governors realised that the time was hardly opportune for a request for a subsidy, especially where building materials were concerned, but stating further that the Board would like favourable consideration of an application for a subsidy when times become normal, to enable the build- I ing to proceed. I The Department wrote, asking the Board for its comments on a suggestion that the representatives of industrial unions on the Board be appointed by the Trades Council, and not by election conducted by the Board as at present. Mr Pratt, said that the Trades Council thought that the suggestion was practical, as all unions would have a voice in the apopintment. Any who were not affiliated to the Council would be given a chance to take part in the appointment. i It was decided to advise the Department that the Board approved of the suggestion. The Department advised that the grading of the school had gone up to grade six. The Principal stated that the rise in grading was due to the extension of the woodwork and engineering classes. The Department advised that it would support any appeals made for mathematics, science, and engineering masters called up for military service, and added that the Department of National Service was sympathetic towards the idea of such masters being retained in the schools. —The Principal stated that none of the members of the staff on military service was concerned with the teaching of the subjects mentioned. The Department wrote asking for the co-operation of the school in the making of engineering and wood- [ working vices, in the school’s work- i shops.—The Principal stated that he 1 had advised the Department that the! school would give its co-operation. The Department advised that on account of the shortage of teachers no' school would be allowed to. retain; more than the approved number of teachers. —The Principal said that the school was not concerned, and last year had been slightly understaffed. In reply to a letter from the Principal asking if any arrangement had been made with the Public Works Department for the digging of shelter! trenches for the protection of the pupils at the Technical School and at the manual training school, in case of emergency, the Department advised that the Canterbury Education Board had been asked to include the manual training centre in the plans being executed by the Public Works Department in connection with the public primary schools. In regard to the Technical School, it was stated that the Board should approach the local E.P.S. authorities with regard to plans, and then secure the approval :

' of the Public Works Department. The > work would be paid for by the Govj ernment. ' Mr Taylor said that Mr Kitchmg- ' ham had made a statement to the effect that the E.P.S. was not concerned with the provision of protection for school children at schools. I Mi - Kent said that in the event ol i an emergency, the school would be i required for another purpose, anct ■ there would not be any children m the school when an emergency came, ' as there would be at least two weeks ! notice of the fact that the school was ! to be taken over, and as far as school ' work was concerned the school would be closed. The preparation of the school for emergency purposes would be made in advance of the emergency. | Mr Taylor pointed out that in the I past two years and a-half there had not been an opportunity to make preparations in advance. He thought that some steps should be taken to give protection to the children and to allay any anxiety that parents might feel. Mr Pratt said he could not accept the statement that New Zealand would get so many days or so many weeks’ warning, and he thought that the Board should go ahead and have some protective trenches dug. The Chairman said that plans had i already been made for the trenches, and the Board had now been instructed to confer with the E.P.S., and tnen approach the Public Works Department to get the work clone. It was resolved that the sub-com-mittee already acting in the matter proceed on the lines suggested by tne Department. Mr Taylor asked if there had been any evacuation drill at the school? The Principal said that before Christmas there had been a trial, and inexactly four minutes and a-quar-ter all pupils and teachers had been off the premises, and out of the I grounds. He intended to carry on with the drill. Mr Taylor reported that he and Mrs Lindsay visited the school and the hostel, and found everything in order. He mentioned one or two small Requirements. Messrs Kent and Adams were appointed a visiting committee for the ensuing month. PRINCIPAL’S REPORT. The following report by the Principal was adopted?—The total present enrolment of pupils, not counting a few who have not yet returned to school, is not less than 346, wnich represents a drop of 13 from 1941. However, as last year we were understaffed to the extent of four half-days teacher power, there will be no fear of losing a teacher through a fall in enrolment. This roll number comprises 182 boys and 164 girls, the numbers being allocated among tne different courses as follows: General Secondary, 120; Commercial, 103; Trades (Engineering and Woodwork), 85- Domestic Science, 38. The new enrolment for 1942 was distinctly good; six pupils enrolled from other secondary schools. Of the 125 new first year pupils, 32 enrolled in the Gen-, era! Secondary, 40 in the Trades, 39, in the Commercial, and 14 in tne Domestic Science. From this it will be seen that the usual alteration in the strengths of enrolments has taken place: the General Secondary is considerably lighter than last year, while the Commercial and Trades are considerably heavier. I regret that the new enrolment for Domestic Science is lighter than for some years past; there is, however, quite a chance that this will improve before long. The average attendance for the two weeks of school is hard to compute, but is certainly not less than 97 per cent. Staffing: Miss McNiven, the senior English and senior woman teacher is still absent on sick leave. She is. however, making steady progress, and hopes to be back early in March. A much greater handicap has been suf-

fered through the calling-up oi Mes.-rs Hutton and Ormandy, the former to the National Military Reserve and the latter to his Territorial regiment, both ostensibly for the duration of the war. The absence of these two teachers means that the school is without its only specialist teachers in History, Georgraphy and French, which are three vital subjects to the General Secondary course and its examinations. After careful consultation with the Chairman I submitted an appeal with respect to both teachers. The result was that the appeal is to be reviewed on March 7, and, in the meantime, I have taken steps to advertise both positions as war-time vacancies. While I have no desire in a semi-public report to comment on the comparative values of these men as teachers and as soxdiers, there is no doubt that tne school at present is hopelessly handicapped in its work by their absence, and, unless they can be restored or substitutes found for them, the interests of the pupils must inevitably suffer badly. On the other hand, 1 have been fortunate enough to secure the services of one temporarv teacher for a few weeks. Mrs F. G. Reddell, BA. who has qualifications in all tour subjects in question, has consented to fill the gap until Miss McNivOn’s return. ' Manual Training: The programme of manual training is now under full way, very few changes having been necessary from last year’s Programme. It is quite likely, both from the present situation with regard to young men and from black-out conditions, that the number of evening classes will be less, and the attendance at them smaller. It is intended to start evening school on March 2, soon after which date it will be possible to get some more definite idea as to the probable course of the evening classes this year. Examination results: Pupils sitting from this school in various public examinations at the end of ly4l secured successes as follow: —-Public Service Commissioner’s examination in Shorthand-typing, eight passes; Chamber of Commerce examination, three passes; Public Service Entrance, nine passes (including. one from evening school); University Entrance and School Certificate, 13 passes (including one from evening school) and one partial. M. L. McGlashan and T. Parsonage secured University National Bursaries on the Junior University Scholarship examination, the former being well up on the credit list. G. W. Patterson was awarded the Westland Centennial Memorial Scholarship, being the school’s second winner of this scholarship, and intends to proceed to Otago University for a degree in Science and Mineralogy. Messrs McLean and Pratt expressed appreciation of the School magazine and Mr McLean also congratulated the Principal on the excellent examination successes. The action of the Chairman, and the Principal in lodging appeals for Messrs Hutton and Ormandy was approved. The Principal pointed out; in reply to a query, that neither of the teachers concerned was in any way connected with the lodging of the appeals. He added that Mr Hutton was spending a lot of time after the conclusion of his military duties fox' the day in preparing schemes of work in an endeavour to - keep his own subjects going. He (the Principal) was deeply appreciative of Mr Hutton’s action in so doing.