PARENTS MEET

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 53, Issue 32430, 12 May 1944, Page 5

PARENTS MEET

PAEROA ASSOCIATION OFFICERS FOR THE YEAR WORK OF THE ORGANISATION The annual meeting of the Paeroa Parents’ Association was held in the Labour Party Room recently, Mrs Wheeler presiding over a good attendance. The balance sheet and report for the year were presented, the credit balance being £9 15s' 3d. The president, in prefacing her report, said the executive had accomplished a good deal of useful work during the year. “We do not, she said, “go round with a blare of trumpets, but if you read each monthly report in the local paper, you will know what we have been doing. “In presenting the tenth annual report of the Paeroa Parents’ Association,” said Mrs Wheeler, “I wish to thank Ml present for having shown enough interest in our activities to be present this afternoon. We are only a small executive, and can only be a constructive unit when we have the benefit of your assistance at the back of us. The Paeroa District High School Committee has aided us in every way possible and we hope that we have been of assistance to them. It is only by co-operation that success is to be achieved. For this help we than Mr Chas. Webb and his committee members. To Mr A. E. Day and his staff we tender our best wishes and thanks for advice and help. It is a pleasant thought that we enter the school in a friendly, atmosphere, when in need of guidance or assistance. Loss Of Miss Murray “We have, this, last term, lost our friend Miss Murray, whose advice has always acted as a spur to our work.

We wish her well in her new school, and every happiness in her marriage. To the Press, and all who have helped us in any way, we say ‘thank you!’ “Now, you may ask, what does' the Parents’ Association do ? If you have kept in touch with our published reports you will be very conversant with our activities. We aim to be a closer link between parents and teachers than it is possible for any other committee to be. We also are a source of help that the staff and school committee may call upon when needed and I may state that so far our aid has always been willingly given. Child welfare problems are discussed and where possible, advice and possibly help, are always given. We welcome any problems in child welfare and management. To our local member, Mr Jas. Thorn, our thanks are tendered for his interest and practical help in our work. Advice To Parents “Our problem is to get in touch with parents, and to get parents l in closer touch with the teachers. Please contact a teacher if you are in doubt, and even when in’ no doubt I think it is the duty of every parent to personally know their child’s teacher. My personal experience is that the best 'behaviour’ and work are got from children whose teachers you, as a parent, know. My personal thanks I freely give to our secretary, Mrs Gleadow, and the executive members. No president ever had a more loyal and hard-working committee. For their loyalty and assistance I humbly say, ‘Thank you!’ We have recently lost from our committee the vicepresident, Mrs R. Jensen, who has left Paeroa for Palmerston North. I wish to specially thank her for standing by when I was not able to attend meetings, and for the loyal and willing held she has at all times given the association. We all regret having to lose her and hope she will be able to join up in Palmerston North. “As the president of the retiring committee, on behalf of our members

I wish the new committee the best of luck and good fortune in their new year’s work. ! Let the welfare of school and child he their motto during the trying days that seem to be ahead of us, arid let it be our endeavour to improve as we march on through 1944. Thank you.” Officers Elected The officers elected for the ensuing year were: —President, Mrs S. Wheeler; vice-presidents, Mrs R. L. Darley, Mrs G. Gamble, Mrs Geddes; secretary, Mrs C. Gleadow; committee, Mesdames A. Whisker, C. Webb, W. Tubman, D. Hill, Woofe, Ganley, Bradburn. Mrs Wheeler thanked the meeting for the confidence they had shown in again electing her as president of the association and welcomed the new committee. “I had thought,” she said, “that I might retire from the committee this year. I joined up with the association when it was formed some years ago to obtain better accommodation for the High School, and subsequently for the infants’ department, and I told myself that when that accommodation had been obtained I would retire. Well, the High School is 1 a well-es-tablished fact and the new quarters for the infants will be available when the two rooms at present under construction in the High School building are completed; but I am still here. The procuring of that accommodation has been the big work of the Parents’ Association. Some of you might ask, : ‘ Does not the school committee do that work?’ Well, yes, in a sense; but you must remember that the hands 1 of the school committee are more or less tied because they work through < the Education Board in Auckland, but ] the hands of the Parents’ Association are not tied in any way. Nobody has i worked harder than the school com- 1 mittee to get that new accommoda- < tion, but we have backed them l up and helped them. Then, of course, the : picture projector was a big job of work, and though we have not received it yet, owing to the present-time ship- 1 ping and other difficulties, we know it ' is on the way, as is* also the film strip ‘ machine, which enables still life to be shown, as well as moving films. There is plenty, of othei* work still to be done and we wish the new commit- ( tee the ‘best of luck. Mrs iR. L. Darley then moved a vote of thanks to the chair, which was carried with acclamation. A good afternoon tea was provided by the outgoing committee during the partaking of which many discussions of interest to parents took place.