TARANAKI EDUCATION BOARD.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLI, Issue XLI, 11 August 1921, Page 4

TARANAKI EDUCATION BOARD.

MONTHLY MEETING.

The Taranaki Education Board met; -yesterday. Present: Messrs PI J-. White (chairman), S. G. Smith/ M.P.* H. Trimble, R. Masters, M.P., H. J«. Eaves, A. JLees, R. J. Deare and F«. Hoskin. The chairman reported that during the interim he had to make the follow^ ing relieving appointments: lawhiti,. assistant, Miss S. E. Farquiar: Ha*" wera, assistant, Mrs H. Wilson jßahotn., assistantj-Miss A. Murray* Ihe teachers' selection committee re*; \commended: "That after considering;the senior inspector's remarks the i"ol~ lowing appointments be made: Pukea— ruhe, sole teacher, re-advertise ,'•: Opu— nake, head teacher, Mr W,. Cron* Ta-*----whiti, assistant, Mis%E. M; Burgess ;v that advertisements tor vacancies on* the teaching staff be inserted in on«* laranaki paper-and one Wellington paper on the third Saturday of each* month, and that'the teachers also bev i notified by circular. _' j Leave of absence was granted as nu- [ der: M. l^Kurth, pupil teacher. Ha--I wera WV D * Henderson, third, assist- - | ant, HaVera; -A... Rawiinson, first as*j sistant, Otakeho; B. Earl, cookery in--structress, Hawera. REPORTS. The architect (Mr CL H. Moore) re-i- ---: ported as undent * i Stratford Technical High Schobl;-i- ---; Good progress has been inade^ duringthe past month, in spite of. the wea-" ther. The tUers are getting .on-with.» i the roof; and the work of laying down-i ! the floor is receiving attention. When this is completed the plasterer* will*. ! make a start. "- . — . j Manaia (new school}—This school i*i well on towards completion and will ba* : ready for the bflicial opening on 1 August 11., In conjunction with MrEaves I met the school committee and \ went into the matter of improved front. ) entrance. A pair of large gates as well as wing gates were asked t'or-j thocommittee agreed to pay the extra cos«,_. amounting to £30. This work was put in hand and will also be-com— pleted. . i Tokaora (latrines and septic tank)— This work is welbin hand. Ngaere (residence)—Most of the timoer is on the site and a start will h9tmade with this work as soon as possible. ' , | The attendance officer (Mr S: Pas- ! coe) reported: during the month o* July, 6, irregular attendance notices;, have been sent to parents of children attending primary schools. Six^par— i eiitci have been summoned and fined for- • their children's irregular attendance,: and two convicted and warned. Therehas been an improvement in the at' tendance at the night classes. E ght, parents have been summoned and hneti. ■ i The question of closing schools in various towns during the exhibition ot war trophies was referred to the members for the respective wards. Messrs Lees and Eayes presented tf report on a conference held with the Hawera School Committee on the proposed scheme of grounds improvement.Attei- reviewing the details thuy~ siated: In undertaking the proposed!, improvements the committee are talkin;! or; a proposition that will entail «<-- vast amount of work and expense* Judging by the keenness and interest. shown; however, and the iaet that the ■•• cotimittee has already adopted a^ schemo for raising the neceßsary moneys reqiured, we have every reason to be- • hove that the result of their efiFortsu will be a ground that will be. a credii . to tnem selves and the school. The Elthain supervisor (Mr Bicheno) reported- During the past month thonianuai and technical classes have boon held1 regularly, and with satistacfcory • attendance. Commercial classes (short--nand and book-keeping): Being an adult class a very satisfactory resultis obtained. The lads attending coiaprJsory technical classes (woodwork,--fciignsh and arithmetic) are more interested in their work than fonnerJv.. 1 bcheve this to be due to the assist— anco Mr Reed renders to the practical' : work of tlie boysV ana the grwoth ot the reading habit among the English | class. As a number of boys are fearing at the end of the year, \ am corrre iatmji a very elementary course oti book-keeping with their arithmetic,, llio manual classes have been held regularly for the boys, but the doinestifl' ml 1S yet waltill S an instructress. The agricultural instructor (Mr IL, C Johnson) reported: Regular second* ary work has been carried out at Stratlord, the classes handled by me dealing principally with the examinationsyllabus. The teachers' classes hare been regularly attended, and satisfactory work is being done. It is to be regretted ~ that correspondence classes have beenheld up so long. I.feel now that it seems scarcely worth while enteringupon them this year, although such V procedure may appear as a breach oi agreement with the teachers who attended these courses. I have visited altogether 23 primaryschools this month. Many have, been; visited in connection with the Boys' and Girls' Club. While admitting that good work is being done'in many: schools by the committees, in (function with the staff and pupils of ther school, yet I would specially mention - Cardiff, Pembroke, Riverlea and b'itzroy. In the early part ot the month westaged and exhibited at the Hawera. Winter Show exhibits from the primary schools. The exhibits were,. through some misunderstanding,- somewhat cramped, but were extremely, -~ creditable. In fact, 1 would say that, the note-books and records were the strongest I have ever judged in Taranaki. 1 would specially emphasise thegraphical and record work. .This seeing, to be a very important phase, which, farmers neglect entirely. It has been, said, that "the weakness of the New;* Zealand farmer is the absence of re--record." For the coming season we have many,new schools entering into these com" Petitions from all parts of the district., Ihe southern has developed not too> rapidly, I hope, and this year there has; been competitions in mangolds, carrotsand calf-raising, over twenty schools^ taking part. The central area, Stratford to Inglewood, has swedes. Thenumber of schools in this area is not;, yet definite. The northern area has-, mangolds and carrots, and so tar 15 schools have submitted entries totalling orer 150. Whilst these clubs are> (ioing good work, and are capable of doing still better work, yet I *do not?. think they are yet •on a foundation' which guarantees any permanency— this can hardly be expected since w* have no precedent in any part of theworld to guide us.