SCHOOL COMMITTEE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 439, 24 October 1908, Page 2

SCHOOL COMMITTEE.

The ordinary meeting of the Foxton School Committee was held in the schoolhouse ou Thursday night. Present: —Messrs Horublow (Chairman), Betty, G. Coley, T. Henderson, M. Perreau, Read, and the headmaster, Mr W. Adams. An apology for absence v was received irom the Secretary (Rev. Mr Aitken), Correspondence was read from Mrs Knapp, enclosing price for which she is prepared to clean the school under the new specifications. It was decided, on the motion of Messrs Henderson and Coley, to call tenders for school cleaning, to close on Monday, November 2nd, and that a special meeting be held on that date to consider same.

The Secretary of the Education Board wrote intimating that Mr Fraser would inquire re equipment of rooms for woodwork and cookery.

The visitors’ report referred to certain minor repairs having been carried out including the erection of a gale at tne western end of the school grounds, and special mention was made ot the concrete path around the schcol, which was a great improvement. The report stated luither ihat the class-rooms and w.c.'s, are not kept as clean as they should be. The details in connection with the latter disclosing a disgusting state ot affairs and the repoit suggested that drastic steps should be taken to prevent certain filthy practices in the boys w.c. The report suggested that a receptacle, such as an old tank, should be placed in the grounds for the purpose of burning paper and other rubbish and thus prevent it from blowing over the grounds.

The report was discussed and adopted. The headmaster’s report was read as follows; —‘‘The average attendance for the last five weeks has been as follows: 227, 232, 246.1, 235.7, 226.7 Mean, 233.5! Roll No. 285. The concrete work carried out at the expense of the Board round the school, is now completed, and is a great improvement, and gives entire satisfaction. The technical classes still continue to be very poorly attended. Several attempts have been made to commence a wood-carving class, but without success. Mr Andrews, an expert from Wanganui, came down to Foxton and expressed his willingness to teach the subject for one term if five pupils could be obtained. I regret to state that three was the maximum number and so Mr Andrews had to relinquish his classes. The average attendance up-to-date has been as follows : Dressmaking, 5.4 ; millinery, 3.8; arithmetic, 2. A candlestick for the sewing machine has been supplied, and a case of kerosene is now urgently required.” Matters in reference to school classification, as reported elsewhere, were also dealt with. Mr. Coley moved that the expense of lighting should be charged to the technical school fun.l which was seconded by Mr. Betty and carried.

The treasurer repotted that there was a credit balance of at t'.ie bank, and the accounts to uepassed for paymeul amounied lo *Bs 6d. Mr. Coley suggested that each committeeman subscribe to the funds, but] Mr. Henderson contended that committeemen did their share in giving their time, etc. A concert was suggested. The chairman pointed out that as there would be no further grant from the Board till the end of the current quarter, it would be necessary to raise money by some special effort. It was decided to pay certain of the accounts and hold the balance over.

Messrs. Betty and Bullard were appointed visitors for the month. The Chairman said he was pleased the headmaster had brought up the question of classification in his report, as a number of parents had expressed dissatisfaction at their children remaining so long in the satme standard. The fact that the chief inspector would visit Foxton and thus afford parents an opportunity of airing their views would, he hoped, settle the question once and for all. He would be pleased to hear an expression of opinion from Mr. Adams.

Mr. Heudersou pointed out that children coining to the local school from other parts were reduced to lower standards than what they had been previously taught in. This caused a good deal of dissatisfaction to parents and pupils. Mr. Adams referred to the good progress made by pupils under his instruction in Patea, and their success iu civil service examinations, whose average ages were 13 years. He believed in giving every scholar a,good foundation by a thorough grounding in the lower standards. He admitted that the standard set in the local school was high, and he believed that a high standard was better than a low one ; but he could not exceed the work set in each standard as supplied by the Government regulations. Some parents were anxious to rush their children through school and send them to work. Parents would not complain if they understood what was being done for the children. Under the new regulations even greater powers in reference to classification were conferred on teachers than in in the past. He stated that parents, if dissatisfied, could state their case to the chief inspector once a year.

Mr. Coley did not think that the standard set by Mr. Adams was too high. It was decided to make the fact of the chief inspector’s visit as widely known as possible.