INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXVI, Issue 18, 19 December 1945, Page 8

INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL

BREAK-UP CEREMONY.

Mr W. B. Tennent was the principal speaker at the annual break-up ceremony of the Palmerston North Intermediate School, which was held in the Opera House yesterday afternoon.

The chairman of the School Committee (Mr W. H. Brown) welcomed Mr and Mrs Tennent and representatives of the School Committee and the Home and School AssociationAddressing the children, Mr Brown said that he hoped their work at the school had done thenr good. He told those who were leaving that if they did the best they could in the outside world -their success would be assured. Mr Tennent congratulated those who hail won prizes and told those who had not done so that they should not be downhearted. It was the spirit in which defeat was accepted that, counted. He instanced the case of Captain Scott, who, having reached the South Pole and found Amundsen to have beaten him by a month, did not hesitate to give credit where it was due. The speaker stressed the need for honour in .the outside world and said 'that to be “an English gentleman,” as Scott and each of his little party were, was the highest aim in life. He referred to the way in which Captain Oates had walked out into a blizzard to his death so that his companions might have a hope of winning through. It was necessary, continued Mr Tennent, that character-building should be begun in youth, for character was something that developed throughout the whole of a lifetime. He stressed particularly the need for an honourable life, and defined a gentleman as one who had “a high standard of honour and always considered the effect of his actions upon others before carrying them out.” The principal (Mr J. C. Whibley) gave his report on the school’s activities and the presentation of sports trophies and school prizes was carried out by Mrs Tennent. Votes of thanks to Mr and Mrs Tennent, the School Committee, Mr Whibley and his staff, and the Home and School Association were moved by the school prefects. In conclusion, Mr Brown asked those present to express visible appreciation of Mr and Mrs Tennent’s services and extended to the pupils aiid staff the compliments of the season. Bouquets were presetned to Mesdames Tennent, Whibley, Young (of the Home and School, Association), and Miss Mirrielees (of the school''staff) by senior girl pupils. The proceedings were interspersed with songs harmoniously rendered by the whole school and the school choir, and were for the most part Christmas hymns sung as partsongs. The proceedings concluded with the singing of the school song, “Haere Ake Ra.”