OTAGO HIGH SCHOOLS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21264, 19 February 1931, Page 5

OTAGO HIGH SCHOOLS.

examination results. At the monthly meeting of the Otago g&W SSStfwS « Le dates for University entrance and allied examinations was darger than ever. Tk total number of boys m the fift ■ was large. Owing to business depres sion, fewer left during tin year, and parents were natyra ly anxious tha | *eir boys should sit if they had the slightest chance of passing—often, indeed, if they had none at all. To send a boy up m such circumstances does no good wna ever, and the idea, that it gives him valuable experience is without foundati . Several parents who so notified accepted the advice that no entry should be maae, but no fewer than 18 still entered then boys, all of them failing in due course Apart from these, the school sent up 1-5 candidates, of whom 82 passed, 47 also qualifying for medical preliminary and solicitors’ general examination, seven for the latter only and one for. engineering preliminary. Of seven candidates wishing to complete professional prelinunaries four were successful (three engineering, one medical). The number of full passes for University entrance in_ 1929 was 78, in 1928 79, and in 1927 67. It is worth noting that in no year have the results accorded more closely with those of the school class work, the present system of pass on the. general average correcting discrepancies in individual subjects. For the University entrance scholarship examination there were eight candidates, of whom only one had sat in the previous year. Two (H. r H. Craig and L. F. Moller) -gained University national scholarships, and the remaining six obtained credit, two missing scholarships by a few marks only. For the senior national scholarships the school had 15 candidates, of whom four gained scholarships, eight more passed, and three failed. Four boys under 13 sat for the junior national scholarship examination. One gained a scholarship, the other three qualifying for a pass. For the public service entrance examination there were 29 candidates, mostly from the lower fifth forms. Of these 18 passed. Of 131 candidates recommended by me, and accepted by the department’s inspectors, 129 completed the year and were duly awarded senior free places. A third year of the junior free place was granted to 15 boys under 15 on December 31 and to four who had been absent through ill health, and six boys not recommended gained the senior free place by examination. In 1929 the total number of successful candidates for senior free places was 142 (139 recommended, three by examination) ; in 1928 164, in 1927 147. The drop in numbers realty implies a somewhat smaller second-year roll, the specially large total for 1928 being due to lack of employment in that year. Fortyfour higher leaving'certificates, carrying under certain conditions University bursaries for fees up to £2O per annum, were awarded to boys leaving from senior forms in December, 1930. Two of these boys have now returned to the school, the net number thus; being 42. • Lady Principal’s Report.—University scholarship: Lorna Faigan (Jubilee scholarship), passed with credit. Matriculation: Thirty-six, comprising 50 per cent, of the entrants, passed the matriculation examination.