KAITI SCHOOL

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 18961, 11 March 1936, Page 15

KAITI SCHOOL

DISTANCE PROBLEM

SIDE-SCHOOL PROJECT

PRACTICAL DIFFICULTIES

Discussing to-day a suggestion that .. side-school should ho established 111 Kaiti, to be administered from the present school? buildings, and to catei Plainly for children of ages between five and eight years, .Mr. 1. A. bole man, member of the Hawke s bay Education Board and chairman oi tie Kaiti School Committee, indicated a number of practical difficulties which would stand in the way of such a project'. . , The chief objection to the location ol the Kaiti School, lie remarked, was undoubtedly due to its distance from the main area ot residential builuing. People- felt that their children had In go a long way from home to get their schooling, considering that they wcie living in a borough and not in the country, aim the speed ol model n vehicles had added a new hazard to the movement of children about the streets which no parent could ignore. The committee of the Kaiti Sclioo already had taken some measures, with a view to reducing the speed of trafficon the main route past the school, which motorists seemed to find so tempting, and witty tjlie co-operation ot tin Borough Council the traffic hazard would, he hoped, be substantially lessened. There remained the question of distance, and in this connection Mr. Coleman pointed out that the municipal bus services were most convenient for the of Kaiti, if their parents cared to utilise them. Though the school was so far out that the selection of the site seemed an obvious error, it was unnecessary for any pupil living in the residential area of the suburb to walk more than, half a mile to some point on the bus route, whence they could travel to school and he deposited at the school gates with l a minimum—almost a complete absence —of traffic risk. SUITABLE SITES SCARCE

booking at the problem from another point of View, Mr. Coleman pointed out that for the purpose of a side-school, an area of from one to two acres would be necessary as a site, since playgrounds would have to be provided. It would be difficult to find a really suitable site clear of any buildings in the residential area, and those which might be regarded as of suitable size were mostly within a few minutes’ walk of the present school site. Not much would be gained by establishing a side school in the locality of deLautour road, for instance; yet where else in Kaiti would there be-suffi-cient open ground for such a school? Staffing and other difficulties would arise after the matter of the site had been settled, concluded .Mr. Coleman, and one matter ot general interest to parents was that tne pupils in such a side school, if it came to the point of establishment, would lose the value ol contacts, from the earliest years qf their schooling, with pupils of older years and the general benefits of play in common. These contacts and benefits were recognised as having a great influence upon the development of the average child, and should not he ignored in connection with this present suggestion. In further general discussion of the schooling problems of Gisborne.• Mr. Coleman,, expressed, agreement with (he snggtestiqii :*that ■ at- some- futiite date., when' the Waimata Rivrt>r is bridged in the vicinity of Score Point, a school in the Russell street area may become a necessity, for the convenience of a combined district covering portions of Kaiti and Whataupoko. That remained a question for the future, however, and in the meantime conditions for school children on Kaiti were less difficult than those in ninny other parts of the Hawke’s Bay Education Board’s jurisdiction.