SCHOOL WORK IN FEBRUARY

Southland Times, Issue 23378, 9 December 1937, Page 8

SCHOOL WORK IN FEBRUARY

EARLIER CLOSING SUGGESTED

MORE TIME IN THE OPEN

A modified curriculum for the pupils of primary schools during the month of February, which is very often hot and enervating, especially indoors, is suggested in an article appearing in The New Zealand Education Gazette. The article suggests that children should be allowed as much time as possible in the open air, and it is stated that an excellent opportunity would be afforded for safety-first instruction. Healthy and beneficial sport, it is suggested, can, in part, replace lessons that would under ordinary conditions be insisted upon. A circular on the same lines has been sent out by the Department of Health. The question will probably be discussed at a meeting of the Southland Education Board tomorrow.

The article appearing in the Gazette is as follows:— “All recognize that health is of supreme importance, although action does not always follow upon the realization,” states the circular. “The time has come, however, when experiments in adapting the curriculum of schools to seasonal conditions might well be made. Teachers are therefore recommended to regard the normal school time-table as temporarily suspended next February, though the times fixed by the Education Board for the opening and closing of schools should be observed. INSTRUCTION IN SWIMMING “Health, which should be the first consideration, does not imply physical inactivity. Swimming will naturally receive attention and the progress made during the learn-to-swim week should be consolidated. The scheme presents an excellent opportunity for instruction in first aid and resuscitation of the apparently drowned as well as in safety-first methods. Home nursing classes should be conductped and the lessons of the Road Code and all the rules which make for safety on the highways should be demonstrated in class rooms and in the playground. “Where facilities of ground and shade exist, lessons could be largely in the open air, and nature rambles could be undertaken and visits paid to places of interest. Arrangements are already be-’ ing made in some places for camp stools for senior pupils. Inter-school and interhouse games could be played, hobbies could be developed and individual tasks and aptitudes encouraged. “Teachers and inspectors might meet wherever opportunity offers for interchange of ideas,” adds the circular, “but whatever the curriculum, the aim should be for fitter pupils, both physically and mentally, on March 1 than on February 1.”