HELENSVILLE HIGH SCHOOL

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 24 January 1918, Page 2

HELENSVILLE HIGH SCHOOL

THE^ Helensville School Committee has received the following correspondence in reference to the proposed establishment of a District High School in Helensville : — Education Board, Auckland, 16th January, 1918. Sir, —Referring to the previous correspondence on the subject of the Committee's request for the establishment of a District High School, I am directed to forward to you the enclosed copy of a report from Mr E. C. Banks upon the matter. - In accordance with the recommendation of Mr Banks, I have to ask that the Committee will be good enough to forward as early as possible the names and addresses of the qualified pupils who would attend the District High School at Helensville, *also letters from the parents concerned expressing their intention of enrolling their children as pupils in the secondary department of the District High School. (Signed) R. P. J. Ray, Asst. Secretary. Education Board, Auckland. 16th January, 1918, I have to report that I visited Helensville on the 15th January, and interviewed Mr Hill, the Headmaster, and Mr Eara'es, Secretary^ with regard to the establishment of a High School. They had not received the results of the sixth standard examination and so were not in a position to tell me how many pupils would attend if the school were opened. Helensville itself has a population of 800, and is the centre of a large and settled agricultural district. Auckland, 38 miles away, has the nearest. High School, and a child to attend an Auckland school would have to be away from home about twelve hours a day.

1 have no hesitation whatever in recommending that a District High School be established if the parents and guardians of at least twenty eligible children guarantee their attendance. (Signed) E. C. Banks.

In reference to the above it may be mentioned that Mr E. C. Banks, in addition to being a member of the Auckland Education Board, is also a member of the Council of Education —and as it rests with the latter body to make the final decision as to whether a District High School shall be established here, it seems apparent that, have the parents sufficient interest in the welfare of their children, they have"'only to communicate with the Headmaster or the Secretary of the School Committee, to obtain the establishment.of the school, and the advantages of secondary education for their children.