TARANAKI EDUCATION BOARD

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLI, Issue XLI, 15 September 1921, Page 4

TARANAKI EDUCATION BOARD

MONTHLY MEETING.

The monthly meeting oi the Taranaki. . Education ijoard was Held at New Plymouth yesterday. Present: Messrs P~ J. H. White (chairman), H. Trimble, A. Lees, E. Hoskin, ii. J. Dear*, R. . Masters, M.P., and S. G. Smith, M.P. . l'ue chairman reported that he had. ; made the iollpwing relieving appoint- ?* inents during' the interim: Otakebo r ' assistant, H. Dryden; Rahoti*, assist- . ant, A. Murray; Te Kiri, assistant^. K. Homer; Kapuni, assistant, L_V^ Walker. v r T The teachers' selection committee reported that, after considering ths~ senior inspector's remarks, the iollowmg„appointments be made: Normanby, second assistant, held over pending, enquiries concerning one of the applicants; Rahotu, assistant, readvertise.. The following resignation was re-, ceiyed: H. W. Hunt, probationer, Eltham. The architect (Mr 'C. H. Moore) reported as follows: Manaia new.school —The whole of the building is now'finished and occupied. We still havermore new desks to replace tlfe 'old- 4 ones. Fifty small chairs and tables were made and sent for the infants'" room and other desks will.be made later on. Ngaere new residence—We have- \ made a start with the new residence at Ngaere.—A grant has come through. -"■ for fittings and furniture for the Hawera Tecnnfcal High School. Some of the fittings are completed and the rest - will be put in hand when possible. It there had been more continuity in connection with the building and a grant for the furniture and'fittings, the latter could have been .finished.—Plans have been received from■■* the Department for ,a moveable type of school. Large quantities of furniture Mid hyloplate boards were completed and sent out to various schools. The joinery for the Ngaere residence, is in hand. /i_ Maintenance had been carried out at-^ the Hawera- primary-school, Riverlea, ,-*., and Matapu. The manual,and technical committee* * reported: JhaT uncertified teachers. ** who are able to attend teachers' ; classes be that-their failure to * so attend will be"taken;into consider*- - tion when appointments are being: _ made; that the matter of advertising, the positions at the Stratford Technical High School he referred to Messrs - Trimble, Valentine and Tyrer, and that the applications close on -November* 4. That the instructors of the Stratford District High School be notified by an explicit covering that owing to the disestablishment of that achosK their services will not be required at that school at a date to. coincide with the completion of the summer holidays. That Miss R. Calverley be appoint— ' ed temporary domestic science instructress at the Hawera Technical High School. PROPOSED GLENN ROAD SCHOOL . The chairman reported in regard to school accommodation at Glenn road: We were interviewed by several re- - presentative settlers from this "locality at Manaia on August 11. This is on* of the most closely settled parts of ' Taranaki, and it would appear that th* central point of this road is some 4_ miles distant from Manaia, Kapuni, and Otakeho schools, there being 23 - ■ children of school age attending onsor other of these schools/ Of thess <- children the nearest is resident at - least 3 miles from any school, and the attendance is naturally very irregular. - In addition there are _X) children-of

school age not attending anywhere. If these figures and distances are found *" to be correct, we are of opinion thatv^ the matter should be referred to the--senior inspector - and- application-made-to provide a movable school. In - .h». event of the Department.acceding toour request we recommend that the offer of Mr J. RobihsoU to donate pne- [ acre of land as a school site be accepted with thanks. TAWHITI AND MEREMERE SCHOOLS. > The senior inspector- ' (Mr T. '' A. / Valentine) reported on- the - proposal i for increased accommodation -at Ta—" j whit^ as under:- The .roll number forj the'school is 194 and'the total floor- . space is 1826 square feet. In normal i times the only conclusion to be arrived at is that the, school is overcrowded and that additions are needed. But. the school, a new one, is so planned that the only form which .addition; can. take is that of a complete room,-' say. 24ft by 24ft, and the overcrowding is not yet "so acute as to make such a, room absolutely necessary. " Hence I jsm compelled' reluctantly to recora- : mend that the committee!s application . for further accommodation be held over for the present; j Reporting in regard to the Mere- •.. mere school. Mr Valentine stated: I am as. yet unable to recommend that an addition be applied for, even though I am persuaded that the existing working conditions. Are1 extremely unsatisfactory for the teachers and net I'helpful to the-pupils. GENERAL. The chairman intimated that the committee in charge of the new school at Manaia had offered, to pay £30.. being-the architect's estimate of added cost' in order- to provide fitting "entrance gates to the grounds, and these we found erected in position. The building contains some features introduced for the first time into the construction of, schools in. the Taranaki district, notably the arrangement of tanks concealed between- the walls, as& the board desired to place on record - their appreciation of the results obi tamed by the architect. _ The chairman further repor^td that a visit had been paid, to the Kiyerlea school on August 11, and an interview .had been held with the= school oommit- | tee in regard to the matter of new desks and the frosting of the windows > '. on "the south sidOj to _mprove the -^ j lighting, both. of .which*~--atter- are to . , receive the architect's urgent attenj tion. The ploughing of the playing ( area was also mentioned, but no hope of monetary assistance at the present time was held out. Board members were pleased to note the great improvement effected to -the school, grounds since the last official visit. i Plans were received from the Educa- . tion: Department >of movable and extensible buildings designed by their architect; and these were referred t_»■'_. the board's architect for a report/ ' In view of the contemplated resignation of two teachers of longservice, it was decided Jo write to the departI ment asking that the work of these I two gentlemen be recognised by a grant to each three months' salary. The question of providing an additional playing area at Oeo was referred to Messrs Lees and Eaves. | The,s^cMtect was_ instructed to remove a partition in the Kaponga school, as requested by the committee. !. Permission was given to the New Zealand Alliance to conduct essay competitions on a pamphlet based on instruction concerning "Alcohol in jfe» lation io the Human Body.'? -.;-.^T.; The New Zealand Educational Institute wrote emphasising the importance ;t of character in. a teacher a.hd theneces- '- sity for inquiries being made as "te "fit-; ness and character before way strangfers;" were empldved.~Ttwas Njported that

the Institute had been informed that it was the practice of the board to snake the strictest inquiries in this respect. —News.