GISBORNE HIGH SCHOOL

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19098, 20 August 1936, Page 11

GISBORNE HIGH SCHOOL

BOARD OF GOVERNORS MONTHLY MEETING MORE ROOMS NEEDED The monthly meeting of the Gisborne High School Board of Governors was held ui t. evening, when there were present Messrs. L. T. Gurnard, chairman, W. G. Shcrratl. T. Todd, 11. 11. l.)o Costa, '• W. Nolan. 11. K. Bright., and Dr. A. E. Singer. it was decided to apply to the Education Department for a grant t<> cover the cost of asphalting the yard at the back ol the new workshop block. The secretary, Mr. C. H. Bull, imported that lie had not received any reply from the Education Department with legat'd to ucipiiring land lor a school larm. I'm- secretary said he understood that the department had under review the question of school farms. »

Instruction was received from the department for the restoration of wages ol the teachers and other employees of the board to the 1931 level.

The statement of receipts and payments showed that the hoard had a credit balnee in the bank of £1227 11s 2d on July 15, and of £582 16s 4d on August 19. The receipts for the period, including ■ Government grants £609 17s Bd. totalled £876 18s Bd. The payments were: School, salaries and wages, £670 14s 9d. and sundries, including £SOO paid to the. Post Office Savings Bank, £5Bl ]2s 9d • evening! technical classes, £l7 Is lid; rectory. £145 9s '2d ; Avion House, £IC6 14s ltd: total payments. £152.1 13s 6d.

Accounts amounting to £569 2s lid were passed for payment. GROUNDS AND BUILDINGS

The Grounds and Buildings Committee, Dr. Singer, Messrs. Nolan, Todd and De Costa, who visited the school and rcctoiy on August 17. reported: “At the school the question of the board applying to come under combined school regulations was discussed and it was resolved to recommend the board to give favourable consideration to such a step being taken. Ten typewriters have arrived and the typewriting room is inadequate for their use. An estimate has come to hand for repairing and repainting the caretaker s house and out-buildings on the sect ion adjoining Ay ton House. _ The secretary advised that ho has applied for a grant for this purpose. “The committee approved of an expenditure of £5 for planting native trees along the cricket ground. It also approved of an expenditure of £3 8s ‘for fruit trees and shrubs at Ayton House. 'The engineering workshop was inspected. Tin* last of the machine tools covered by the grant for equipment has arrived and is being! installed. Some improvements are necessary to the fence at the Desmond road entrance to the Rectory, and should receive consideration in the near future. Consideration will require to he| given also to the repainting of the Rectory at. an early date.”—The report was adopted, and the secretary was instructed (o write to the Education Department to ascertain what possibility there was of bringing the school under the combined schools regulations. RECTOR’S RETORT The rector, Mr. J. Hutton, reported as follows lor tHe period ending August 17:—“All work at the High School is proceeding smoothly, 'term activities are drawing to a close. The second term ends on August 21. r l he third term qommeiices in the case ot the High School on September 14. and in the case of evening classes on September 7. “The equipping of the workshops and the domestic block is almost complete for the present. Ten new typewriters have been received. Five of these have gone" into immediate use, but (lie lack of space at present prevents our using the other five effectively. One of the new rooms which we applied for was intended to be a typewriting room, two to replace the small rooms which were really part of the hall, and the fourth was'intended to be an agricultural classroom and laboratory combined. In the meantime we should have taken one of the present class-rooms as a type-writing room, but the increase in roll this year made this impossible since one class is already in tlie'hall. The attention of the department should he drawn to the dilliculty in regard to typewriting space, which affects both day and evening classes, and* it should he pointed out that these difficulties would be solved if early and favourable attention could be given to our application. “in the same connection, it is worth noticing that there are over 60 science periods .a week for boys, with only one laboratory, and that difficulties arc accumulating here which will he intensified next, year when we reach the stage of having a second-year industrial, course as well as an increased demand in general science. The department should be reminded that attention to all these matters is of very urgent importance in view of the increased size of the school. In the meantime our plans for development are proceeding as anticipated, but the lack of space and laboratories may prove progressively serious. EVENING CLASSES “The evening classes have been fairly well attended this year, a total of 180 pupils attending, some on two or three evenings. The demand for general school subjects apparently lias died away. There arc no school certificate or matriculation classes in the evening. This is probably a good tiling as it means that those who need an examination requirement obluir it before leaving school, ft is all to the good, too. if iL involves a recognition ol the fact that evening classes are not in any way a substitute for lull time day work, but only reach a high standard ot work when the pupils who enter them have already completed a post-primary course.

“The subjects, too, that can be most profitably taken are those having some reference to the needs ol the pupil s occupation or the pupil’s spare lime pursuits. It will be seen from the following list of subjects that it is actually the case: Book-keeping, economics, mercantile law, shorthand, typewriting, applied mechanics, mechanical drawing, motoi engineering, electric wiring, plumbing theory and practice, woodwork, drawing and art, ticket writing, dressmaking, invalid cookery, and wool-classing. “The best, results, of course, are obtained when this work is supplementary to a good post-primary education of some sort, and when the. standard ol recruitment to the various occupations affected demands appropriate post-primary requirement from its entrants.’ The report was adopted. It was resolved to communicate with the Minister of Education, the lion. V. Eraser, on the urgency ol providing the additional rooms already applied lor. A letter on the same subject also would be sent to the Education Department.