OKAIAWA SCHOOL’S GOLDEN JUBILEE

Hawera Star, Volume LIII, 28 September 1933, Page 7

OKAIAWA SCHOOL’S GOLDEN JUBILEE

CELEBRATION OF FIFTY YEARS’ PROGRESS

HISTORIC ASSEMBLY TO-MORROW BIG ATTENDANCE ANTICIPATED VARIED PROGRAMME OF EVENTS To-morrow the Okaiawa Sclioo,l will celebrate its colden jubilee with the completion of a span of fifty yeais since its opening on October 1,. 1883. A very comprehensive programme adequately to celebrate the occasion has been drawn up, and an attendance of past pupils and teachers from all parts of the Dominion is anticipated. Ample opportunity will be afforded all who were associat- . ed with the school to renew old acquaintances and to discuss their recollections of the early days, and many and varied should be the reminiscences of those who have seen the development of the school from a one-roomed bunding to the present modern structure. The school has an historical and educational record of which not only those directly interested in it, but also the whole of the district, can justly feel proud. It has been well served from the earliest days by the men and women in whose charge the school and its pupils were placed, and the achievements of the past and the consistently good work of the headteachers and staffs will be an inspiration for those of the -future, and an incentive to ever better effort.

The celebrations will commence at 12.30 p.m. with a parade of the Hawera Pipe Band and the Hawera Mam School Band from the township to the school. . At IZAo the children will be addressed by a representative of the Taranaki Education Board, and at 1 p.m. a general address of welcome will be given by the chairman of the school committee, Mr J. Barclay. Short speeches will be made by a representative of the Education Board, Ministers or Pailiament, old teachers and old pupils and the Rev. Rakena. A varied programme of items by the children will follow, including songs, folk dancing, drill, hakas and poi dances. A burlesque football match between adults is to he played during the afternoon, and adult Maoris will give hakas and poi dances. Afternoon tea will he served from 2.30, during which time the children will be specially intertained. The gala rvill conclude with a concert and dance.

work of the school was much injured by many scholars leaving early. And another remark seems significant: Children read so little in those country districts; they say they have no time.