EDUCATION BOARD

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 16 September 1924, Page 6

EDUCATION BOARD

MONTHLY MEETING

The Taranaki Education Board met yesterday. Present : Messrs S. G. imith, M.P. (chairman), H. Dempsey, it. J. Deare, P. J. H. \Vhite aiid f{. g Masters, M.P. Leave of absence was I granted to Messrs A. Lees, H. J. Eaves g and F. H. Sims. I The chairman reported having "made 9 the following appointments during the month:—Miss M. J. Hunt, sole teacher, Tokirima; Miss L. Williams, assistant-, Ohura; Miss M. M: Fahey, assistant, Waitara- Miss C. Jowsey, sole teacher, Opatu; Mr F. J. Cumber■vorth, head teacher, Huiakama; Miss M. B. Simpson, assistant, Mgaere; Mr *V. A. Curteis, headmaster’, Opunake; Mrs Lee, assistant, Hawera; Miss M. F. Anderson, assistant, Awatuna; Miss | y. H. Davies, sole teacher, Manga.rara; Miss J. It. Mitchell, assistant, i-'ahora; Miss M. E. Spence, assistant, Luroa; Miss M. J . Hunt, assistant, .vlatiere; Miss F. Surmaii, sole teacher, Mokau; Miss F. E. Itawson, sole teacher, Hurford. Miss Dorothy Martin was appointed 1 seventh assistant at Stratford. j The following resignations were received and accepted:—Mr B. W. B. Tunt, headmaster, Oeo (September 30); \liss E. F. Leech, assistant, Inglewood .September 30); Mrs L. M. Street, sole :eacher, Piko (August 31); Miss F. I. , uaurent, relieving teacher (September- ; Miss N. V. Collier, sole teacher; -lurford (Aug. 31); Miss M. E. Leech, assistant, Eaimata (September 30). The senior instructor in agriculture .Mr it. G. Ridling) repoi-ted as follows: Primary schools. —In the course of :he month 55 schools have been visited i.y instructors and their reports state hat the work is proceeding satisfaeon ly in most, of the schools-. Prepara--ions are being made for commencing • lie snrinu work, and nrrnnp-emerrh<L fmr I

carrying out competitions. in various ' liases of the work are in hand. The Sit-ham Farmers’ Co-operative Company lias generously donated seed and manire for the potato competition in the IchOols of the Eltharn district. Rural Science Classes. —The classes n the various centres have been held regularly. It is essential that these .lasses should be commenced earlier in the year than was the case this year. Several teachers desired to take agriculture for the teachers’ examination, and because the work required had not been covered they had been compelled :o attend extra classes during the evenings and on Saturday .afternoons. This .an be avoided if the classes are commenced earlier in the year than the niddle of March. A resolution was passed thanking the Uo-cperative Organisation Company for its .gift of seed and manure. The matter of a demonstration plot f-oi* the

Central schools was left in the hands >f the chairman, with powqr to act. Additions, new buildings, and repair ivork were reported on by the hoard’s irchitect (Mr C, H. Moore) as follows:' New work.—A start- has been made m the Eltham new school, and good progress has been made. Repair work.—At Hawera the folding partition authorised has been erected, and improvements made to. the lighting, besides general repairs. There dill remains the matter of a movable lartition in this classroom. Plans.—We have been busy with demils and final plans for "Westown and Cltham. Plans for remodelling the .Coirfolk School have also been comfieted and application made for a grant -o cover half the cost, the balance to oe met out of the rebuilding fund. The attendance officer (Mr G. Pascoe) .eported that he had sent out 50 irregular attendance , notices during the month. He had visited 28. schools, the ittendance being good in -each case. It was decided to ask the Department to arrive at- a decision regarding ! :he establishment of a district high ichocl at Manaia as soon as possible. The chairman stated that .in his opinion the hoard of managers of ; ;he Hawera Technical High School ; should in their own interests do some--1 filing towards providing conveyance of ' the children in that district to Hawera.

Concerning the Ihaia School, tve Department wrote approving of a grant of £36 for extension of the room by six feet. In view of the possible consolidation of small schools in the district in the near future, it could not see ■ts way to consider applications for a new site .or a new school.—The board decided to accept the Department's offer of £36. The secretary reported having received a number of fire extinguishers irom the Department for distribution amongst various wooden schools. —The allocation of the extinguishers to the schools was left in the hands of the chairman. The establishment of a school at tohua was held over pending the report on the matter by the senior inspector when he next visits the district. The department notified the hoard that an annual grant of £39 a year had been authorised for renting the Sunday school at Opunake for the accommodation of the standard 4 pupils, on account .of overcrowding at the main school. The board decided to contribute up to £99 towards the fencing of the Courtenay Street site. The question of making some increase to the Central School Committee’s incidental grant was deferred pending a full attendance on the finance committee. With regard to the transport of children from Ngariki Road to Rahotu, the board decided to apply to the department for authority to enter into a bond -with the contractor, pointing out that eighteen children had been guaranteed for conveyance. On the motion of the chairman it was decided to forward to the department the following suggested school dates for 1925: —First term, February 3 —May 8 ; second term, May 26 —August 21; third term, September 15—December 18. It was resolved to apply for authority, to expend half the cost of re-model-ling Norfolk School out of the rebuilding fund, and, to renew- application for re-modelling Puniho School, half the cost to be paid by the board from the rebuilding fund. An application was received from the federated dairy companies of South Taranaki for permission to use the manual buildings at Hawera: for the purposes of a dairy laboratory. Decision was held over pending further particulars being made available. The chairman and Messrs. White, Masters and Lees were appointed a committee to go into the matter of an authorised list of school books at their earliest convenience.