Southland High Schools

Southland Times, Issue 12010, 14 December 1907, Page 4 (Supplement)

Southland High Schools

annual, reports. THE BOYS’ SCHOOL. Following is a summary of the annual report presented by the Rector at the school prize distribution last night. The total enrolment for tho year was 172, G4 entering the school for the first time; U3 held junior free places, 32 senior free places, while the remainder. 27, were fee-paying pupils. Of the pupils 35 were between the ages of 12 and 15 rears, 113 between 15 and IS, and 4 over IS. The attendance was considerably broken by an epidemic of measles in the middle of Hit" year and by influenza in the spring. The state was also affected. Tin; Rector touched sympathetically upon the deaths of Arnold Kingsland. Robert Cochrane and George Duke.

In the public examinations of December. 1906, the following results were achieved by the school: two Lniversity Scholarships, one Credit List. 11 Matriculation passes, 2 Senior Board Scholarships, 19 Junior Civil Service (15 with credit). 26 senior free places. The Rector referred to tiie additional facilities made available by the removal of the girls' school to a separate building. Where no accessory comforts existed before there were now a lavatory, a bicycle shed, a large club room and armoury, an asphalt tennis court, lives courts, and a iairly roomy yard. These accessories made the school a place of greater attraction .for the pupils.

Reference was made to the resignation of Mr Stuckey and the appointment of Mr J. Williams. H.Se. in his place, and also the appointment ot Mr J. P. Dakin. 15. A. These changes in the staff, tho unusual sickness among tile pupils, and the long absence of Mr McKinnon through an accident to his knee, somewhat interfered with the working of the school, hut tho Rector expressed tiie hope that tin - school had recovered any lest gror.nd, and would take as good a place as usual in the pubic examinations.

It was noted with satislaetiim that the pastimes of the school were in a healthy slate, while tin- cadet cups were in good heart and acpiitted themselves meritoriously when they appeared in public. -Mr Galloway had proved himself a highly-succ-ssiul gymnastic instructor. During the year Mr F. Brookc-Smitb was appointed Drawing .Master. and every boy in Hie school, with the exception of five senior boys, received one lesson a week; non-Latin boys received two. There was a Tailing off in enthusiasm for woodwork. Tlie following paragraph is Taken from the Hectors report intact;— ■‘l feel constrained to add a fe.w remarks about the mental equipment of boys on their entrance to this school from tiie primary schools of the district. Four years ago. in common with others, I welcomed the alterations that came into operation in the primary school syllabus. Now that the results of the changes are apparent, I entertain doubts as to tli o wisdom of the alterations. If I compare leys entering tire school before the effect of the new regulations was fait wit!i the boys that entered the school this year. 1 find, both in intellectuality and in knowledge, that the hoys under the old system were the better. The boys of this year seem to know very little, and to have difficulty in the acquisition of knowledge. I wonder what they have been doing at school. I ask them simple questions and am answered hy a.silence of amazement. I grunt at once an improvement in English, in reading, in fhie.ncy of expression, both oral and written. i also grant a better preparation for science. But their arithmetic is less; grammar, history and geography. so

far as results show, seem to have disappeared. while the less that is said about Hie writing, the belter. And yet I call attention to Hie bad writing because Secondary Schools are often wrongly blamed n regard to this. I expect a boy to write well at Hie age of thirteen or fourteen years. Yet tills year I very early had to insist on extra writing in copybooks for twenty new boys. It almost seems that in desiring to escape from the rigid requirements of Hie old syllabus we have given too much licence to teachers. Surely, while it is too exacting to expect pupils of the sixth .standard to know every cape and island around the coasts of Hie world, and to know the date of every battle in English history, it is not too much to expect boys to know the out'iiK-.s of the history of their own nation ami of the geography of the world. Geographical and historical readers are all very well in their way; but again, are there not certain data in both subjects the knowledge of which is indispensable for anyone professing to lie an educated man'.’ A.m I asking too mueh when 1 ask that in English history a buy ..f thirteen or fourteen years ought to be aide to assign the century in which Edward Hi. lived or in which the Reformation in England occurred'.’ Hr H> tell me where Madagascar is. or what is Hie capital of Austria? Then In grammar ought not a boy who has fussed through the primary schools to be able to tell me how many cases nouns have, and to put his own name into the possessive case ? The old formal grammar lias fallen into desuetude: there was too much insistence on parsing and analysis. But have we acted wisely in ousting it neck and crop? Is there not an irreducible minimum of formal grammar necessary for the sixth standard pupil? In teaching ttiese grammarle.ss pupils French or Latin, I find It first necessary to teacli the rudiments of English grammar. Again 1 ask, should this be necessary: Ought not these pupils to bring away from the primary school some equipment in grammar? The new syilabus was certainly a bold improvement on Hie old, deleting formal grammar and the crude mass of fact-lore in history and geography; but, now that the results are apparent, bad as it is constantly to be tinkering with -a syllabus, ought not a partial return to the old to be made, to

give soiree substance to the lessons in geography, history, and grammar? The mistake has been made’ in conceiving that in geography and history everything read is permanently assimilated. We must not overload the memory, but we must not neglect its training altogether. as we seem to be doing. What is learnt in boyhood is easily carried in the memory. Therefore 1 am of opinion that there are certain data in history and geography that ought to be memorised by every pupil, to serve afterwards as finger-posts along the high.ways of history and of the world: and that some amount of formal grammar ought to be part of the training of every pupil of the primary schools." In conclusion. Mr Pearce acknowledged the assistance received from friends and old boys in carrying on the various brandies of school work and sport.

THE GIRLS’ SCHOOL. The following is a condensation of the annual report of Miss Cruickshank. Lady Principal of tiie Girls’ School:— The roll numbers for tho three terms were 141, 141. and 136. At the beginning of the year the number in attendance stood at 143, of whom 119 held free places and 24 paid fees. At present 105 held free places and tiie remainder paid fees. Tiie new school had proved most convenient and commodious. and school work was now conducted under almost ideal sanitary conditions. A few modifications were made in tiie curriculum. Drawing, and in some classes brushwork, had been made a school subject, with Mr Brouke-Smith as instructor. A dressmaking class had been carried on by .Miss Wilkinson, and two cookery classes had been continued at the Technical School under Mrs Turner. Miss Cruickshank expressed regret that tiie necessity of preparing for public examinations reduced the time Unit should be devoted to tiie training of pupils in the actual use of their mother tongue. The following pupils wore entering for these examinations: —Two for the University Junior Scholarships, 16 for Matriculation, 13 for Civil Service, in for Senior Education Board Scholarships, and 46 for continuation

In regard l<> out of hours classes, swimming had not been taku up in the meantime, but the Bible Class had been continued.- and a field club had done something in the way of Practical Nature Study. A hockey club had been formed during the second term, tennis had been revived, and gymnastic work had proceeded satisfactorily under Mr Calloway. Various prevalent epidemics affected the school work, and in addition Miss Cruickshank was >truck by the number of cases in which health made absolute discontinuance of study imperative. Blie uj’ged that full advantage should be taken of every opportunity the school offered in the way of physical training. Acknowledgments were made of assistance received from friends, and the changes in the staff during the year caused hy resignations and new appointments were enumerated. In conclusion Miss Cruickshank thanked the staff for their efficient- assistance on all occasions, and noted her appreciation of the consideration she had met with during the year at the hands of tit Board.