TECHNICAL SCHOOL

Grey River Argus, 20 March 1945, Page 3

TECHNICAL SCHOOL

board of managers meets. Mr J. B. Kent presided over last evening’s meeting of the Greymouth Technical High School Board of Managers Also present were Mrs G. Blair'and Messrs D. S. Kennedy, W. D Taylor, P. J- McLean, F. H. Denton J H. North, W. Braithwaite, E. O. Henry, and the Principal (Mr W. M. Stewart). It. was decided to accept with .regret the resignation of the caretaker, Mr W. Excell, and to advertise the vacancy, the Secretary being empowered to draw up the conditions of appointment. The Education Board wrote giving details of courses in nutrition. The Principal said that he had taken steps to'set up an advanced class. The Department also wrote stating that copies of “Forest and Bird” would be supplied to the School in fuure. The necessity for boards to keep within the limits of grants made by the Department was emphasised in another circular. The Principal remarked that the Board had clean hands in the matter. Details regarding secondary school bursaries for pupils who had gained the school certificate at non-accredit-ing schools and wished to do Sixth Form work at an accrediting school in preparation for attendance at a University, were forwarded by the Education Department. It was stated that pupils, taking professional subjects, such "as accountancy, would not be eligible for such bursaries. The Principal said that though the School at present had a very large Sixth Form none of the pupils in it had come under the bursary system from other schools. Advice that the post-primary school regulations, of which a draft had previously been circulated, were being altered in the light of criticism received before being submitted to Parliament was received from the Department. The Principal reported that he had written to several persons whose names had been supplied to him, with a view to securing the services of a cookery instructress. However, none bad been able to accept the position, and he had now advertised for a temporary instructress. Mr Denton reported that the visiting committee had visited the School and the hostel, and found everything in order. Messrs Kennedy and Taylor were appointed a visiting committee for the coming month. The finance committee reported that accounts for the School amounting to £164 3s 9d, and for the hostel amounting to £72 14s 6d, had been passed for payment. The School account had a credit balance of £B5B 12s 7d. Th e report was adopted. PRINCIPAL’S REPORT “The necesary steps have been taken to secure the appointment of additional teachers, and of a successor to Mr. Marshall,” the Principal stated in his report. “Indications are, however, that it may prove very difficult to obtain these, with’the result that, at the Technical High School itself, a serious staffing shortage may arise, especially in view’ of the large size of the present, classes This combined with 'the failure to receive any applications for the positions in manual cookery vacated by Miss Ramsay and Miss Wither, will present some difficult problems in the administration of the school. “The roofs of the two technical wings, especially the domestic science block, are now definitely in need of repainting, having been painted when the iron was too new. Unfortunately it is, I understand, very difficult to secure a good quality of roofing paint at present, so that this necessary piece of maintenance may have to be held for a time.

“The lack of cookery teachers has made it impossible to open up the manual classes in cookery for primary school classes, though the woodwork classes are in fairly normal running. In spite of many personal approaches in Reefton, Hokitika and Greymouth, no success has so far been met with in securing temporary teachers for the w*rk, and I have therefore adopted the plan of advertising in the newspapers, ft would seem that the shortage of trained and qualified instructesses in this branch, always very evident, is at present much more acute than ever. It is to be hoped that permanent teachers may soon be obtained, as it is not only hard on the girls to lose their cookery, but also the difficulty found by country teachers in letting the boys come in without the girls is apt to endanger the woodwork classes also. “Since my last report, £3O 15s has ben received in school subscriptions, making a progress total for the year of £4l 15s, and other receipts total £ll Bs. Payments for the period have totalled 1 £1 Is leaving a credit balance in hand of £152 4s. Accounts are outstanding to the amount of £34 los 7d chiefly for sports and physical material o£ various kinds. . “The annual barracks and physical training week was held from February 19 to 23 and in spite of the incidence of two and three-quarter wet days out of the five, proved an undoubted success. For this, in addition to Mr. W. B. Hutton and the teachers of the school, male and female, , have to express thanks to the area and sub-area military command, ana to the officers of the physical educacation branch of the Education Department, for the provision of a generous supply of equipment of vai; ious training facilities, and ol vet J efficient instructors.