ST. JOHN’S GIRLS’ SCHOOL

Southland Times, Issue 23693, 16 December 1938, Page 13

ST. JOHN’S GIRLS’ SCHOOL

ANNUAL BREAK-UP SIR ROBERT ANDERSON PRESENTS PRIZES There was a big attendance of parents, former pupils and friends at the annual prize-giving and break-up ceremony of St. John’s Girls’ School in All Saints’ Hall last evening. Bouquets were presented by the pupils to Miss N. Enderby, the principal, Miss Nicholson, first assistant mistress, and Mrs G. M. Broughton wife of the chairman of the board of management. Mr Broughton, who presided, said he was pleased to see so many present. The school had had a successful and pleasant year and the number of pupils attending had increased. In reviewing the school year he had been impressed by the splendid work of friends and wellwishers, and his report would be mainly an appreciation of the assistance given to the school. The sports held at the show grounds had been very successful, and he congratulated Miss E. Hoyles, who was primarily responsible. He thanked the parents who had helped at the sports, the bazaar and the bridge drive. The gymnastic display held recently had been an attractive and interesting event Mr Broughton congratulated the members of the staff on the work they had done during the year. The school was fortunate in having Miss Enderby, with her experience and ability, as principal,' e said- He also congratulated Miss Nicholson, Mrs Larcombe (teacher of the younger children), Miss Hoyles (sports). Miss N. Swanson (art). Miss I. Oran (speech training), Miss M. Flaus (dancing) and Mr Charles Martin (music). He was sorry that Miss Hoyles had resigned her position as sports mistress, as she had done splendid work during her three years at the school. He thanked the present members of the board for their assistance, and former members for the use of school furniture and equipment. The chairman then thanked Sir Robert Anderson for coming to present the prizes. PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

The report of the principal was as follows:— “There were difficulties to face at the opening of the first term; the teacher we had engaged for the Preparatory and Junior School failed us at the last moment, but Mrs Larcombe promised to return to us as soon as she was free, while Mrs Bruce Macalister took her place for the first month. We are deeply grateful to both these teachers, especially to Mrs Larcombe, who is trying to leave us now. I am counting on seeing her back for a time next year, until we find someone who can take her place. It is difficult to obtain teachers for a private school, as grading and superannuation are lost. “The" roll numbers for the year were well in advance of that of last year, having increased from 46 to 54 on an average. We have also had five or six boarders all the year. “The health of the school has been fairly good. We were not seriously affected by either of the measles epidemics, except for a few days at the end of the second term, when we closed a little earlier in company with the other schools. The inspector unfortunately chose that time to visit us, but though we were short-staffed and the attendance was low, he was sufficiently impressed with the work to give us again a very satisfactory report. Of course the little Southlanders are a hardy race, because of their ancestry and the rigours of the climate. Our own children here have also many advantages, being able to run wild, climb trees and so on in these well-situated grounds. Also they have excellent coaching and training for sports, swimming, gymnastics and games. Miss Hoyles has done a great deal for the girls during her three years’ here, and we shall miss her. Those of you who were present at either the sports or the drill and dancing display, could not help but be impressed by the fitness and training of the pupils. In spite of the fact that the fathers beat the girls at basketball the girls were very successful in the inter-schools basketball matches. The juniors won the cup in the F grade, and the seniors were runners-up for the B grade. In tennis the B team was runner-up against the Technical A team.

“The sports were held at the show grounds this year—a very successful innovation. Much better results, times and standards were achieved on a full size ground, which we unfortunately have not. The swimming championship .will be decided early next year. A chain of adverse circumstances has prevented our holding the events this term. “The parents and Old Girls have as usual made splendid efforts on behalf of the school. The Old Girls held a happy and successful children’s fancy dress party in April, and at a well-at-tended Old Girls’ dinner much enthusiasm was stirred up on behalf of th- school, some of which was expressed in their work for the bazaar, vzhere working with the parents and pupils, they were rewarded by the magnificent receipt of the sum of £llO. The mothers had already held a highly successful bridge drive. It seems hard that such tremendous efforts have to be made in order that costs may barely be met. Education is the most important thing in a child’s life, and like all good things it has its value. Our friends can help most by bringing in more and more pupils. Only thus can we, who are trying to build a centre of individual education here, lay foundations for a successful future.

STATE OF WORLD “Tire world outside is in a state of fear, horror, unrest, danger and dread of war and worse than war. Hunger, poverty and suffering are already the lot of thousands of people, and in the near future it is possible and probable that these things will come nearer home. Most of us have had the best of our lives, and what we have to do is to look now to the future, not for ourselves, but for these children. They are going to make the new world, if there is to be a new world, and we have to make it possible for them to do it. There are many kinds of education, and all are partly good, partly wrong. I think that this year St. John’s school has begun to find itself. Both we and the children are beginning to see what we want to do. Some schools aim at just letting the children do everything that they want to do and nothing they do not want to do. But that is not quite the root of the matter. First the teacher has io help the child to get out of itself what is certainly there; second, he has to help the child to know, and thus to find out about what it wants to know and do; and third, to help the child to school, train its mind anr' body, so that it can do what it wants to do. And I believe that we now have our feet on that P'th Fortunately I think we have members of the staff who are eager to tread this path, and we have children who are eager to go ahead. “I should like to speak about three of the ways in which we are trying to achieve these aims, not necessarily in order of importance. The first method is through dramatic expression. W? find tha*. in studying literature, history and the Bible, children readily translate themselves into the characters and situations they are studying, and ex-

press their understanding by themselves playing the part, and interpreting the character or events they are studying. I personally think it is far more valuable than the more common way of preparing addresses on various unrelated topics. This year Stds 4 and 5 presented scenes from the life of Robin Hood which they we.re studying, and tonight they will show the results of their intensive study of early Greek culture in the scenes from Homer’s Iliad which they will present. They have made the cost mes and household articles, studied Iron, orieinals under the direction of Miss Nicholson. The senior forms have during the year played scenes from “The Merchant of Venice” and “Richard 11, ’ and showed a vivid comprehension of Shakespeare’s language and characterization. which greater understanding -•'fleeted in their written work. I should not cml. here the value of work done by the Repertory Society in setting an example di dramatic presentation and characterization—nor of so: le of the films which the pupils have seen here this year. We have not yet been able to afford either any film projecting or radio apparatus in the school, and I am undecided in my mind about the present value of these. If the centenary memorial takes the form of a museum and lecture room, then tht ideal will be achieved, and our school children among others will have the inestimable benefit of being able to study, hear and see unusual and generally unobtainable subjects in proper surroundings and conditions. “The second gateway to education is through music, which develops two most important sides of a child’s mind: first, its love of beautiful, harmonious and melodious sound, which helps to soften the jarring of all the discordant noises, and, second, its sense of rhythm, the fundamental factor in life, controlling all movement, all creative art, and all expression of thought or vision. A child cannot walk properly, a child cannot read properly nor can it write properly without rhythm; much less sing, play, talk, paint or sculpt. Mr Charles Martin has been directing our musical studies.

CREATIVE IMPULSES “Last, through the medium of art and all its application we have tried to bring out all the creative impulses, which are definitely in all children. This year the artistic impulse of the school seems to have burgeoned into a full flowering. We all went to Mr Tom Garrett’s exhibition and discussed and criticized freely; also to the iota exhibition of the work of New Zealand artists held here by the Art Society, then to our own exhibition in H. and J. Smith’s lounge where the work of Mi Swanson’s pupils was shown with that of Miss Weyergang’s, and by request, the exhibition was continued for a fortnight. The quality and type of the work was a revelation to many people. Similar exhibitions have been held in Wellington, where work came from children all over the world, and where some of our pupils had the honour to have work accepted. Not only do they paint and model but their art invades everything, geography, nature study. Scripture, French, science, even mathematics, and it is the life blood of history and literature. The child sees and hears, then she uses her imagination and by seeing or feeling she re-creates the picture evoked by the lesson. We have in Miss Swanson and Miss Nicholson teachers who are able . to develop this power, latent in all children. PRINCIPAL CONGRATULATED Sir Robert Anderson presented the prizes to the pupils, and said that he wished to congratulate Miss Enderby on the work she was doing. He hoped that the present school was the beginning of a much larger one, but to achieve this the support of the parents would be needed. Speaking to the children, Sir Robert compared his schooling with modern education and told of the ways in which methods of teaching had changed. It was not the winning of prizes that counted in life, but the efforts the children had made, and if they put their whole hearts into their work they would succeed. Education was really the training of the mind, and they must learn how to think for themselves. He hoped that the pupils would have another successful year; that they would enjoy their holidays and come back ready for school once more.

The girls of the school, led by Diana Moffett, gave three cheers for Sir Robert Anderson, the board of management, the principal, the staff, and the ■visitors. Mr Broughton then called for three cheers for the girls. Miss E. Hoyles thanked the pupils for a presentation made on their behalf by Judith Allen. Each of the junior pupils then received a gift. A feature of the entertainment which followed the prize-giving was the costuming in the Greek plays and dramatizations. These costumes were made by the girls, and were copies made from pictures of original relics. The items of the entertainment were: Standards 4 and 5: Percussion band, Minuet Opus 14 by Paderewski; Middle School elocution class, verse speaking, “A Little Dog’s Day”; junior elocution class, (1) Verse speaking, (2) mime, “Simple Simon”; Middle School elocution class, mime, “The Bonny Blade”; Preparatory and Standards 1 and 2: Songs, (1) “Lullaby,” by Enid Rowe; (2) “The Way To London Town,” by Stuart Young. Scenes from Homer’s Iliad, Standards 4 and 5: “The Story of Hector and Achilles”; “The Stranger,” a play for children by Laurence Swinyard, adapted to music from Schumann’s “Album For The Young,” by Forms 11, 111, IV and V.. The characters in the order of their appearance were: The Reapers, R. Brodrick, C. Gerrard, D. Tapper, M. Thompson; the Merry Peasant, M. Hodge; his Wife, N. Holmes; the Wild Rider, A. Oliver; the Colonel, W. Rowley; the Soldiers, M. Moffett, V. Reid, L. Pottinger, B. Broughton, J. Broughton, A. Palmer; the Hunter, M. Mills; the Poet, H. Crawford; the Tinker, W. Williams; the Orphan, A. Brown; the Stranger, D. Moffett.

The prize list was as follows: Preparatory.—Christine Macdonald, progress.

Primer 2.—Gillian Tobin, progress; Patricia Williams, progress. Primer 4.—Robin Macalister, progress; June Wadworth, progress; Judith White-Parsons, progress. Standard I.—Ann Royds, form prize. Standard 2.—Nan Macalister, form prize.

Standard 4.—Clare Broad, Scripture, arithmetic; Elizabeth Reid, Scripture, English, history, French; Alison Thomas, form prize, languages. Standard s.—Beatrice Brodrick, arithmetic; Joan McDonald, English and drawing; Sybil Newth, form prize. Form ll.—Barbara Broughton, form prize, history and drawing; Jocelyn Broughton, history, geography, French, Latin, drawing; Sylvia Brown, English; Ngaire Holmes, English, French; Margaret Mills, history; Lalage, Pottinger, form prize, languages. Form lll.—Ruth Brodrick, form prize, mathematics; Hilda Crawford, French, Latin: Helen Palmer, drawing. Form IVa.—April Oliver, history. Form IV upper.—Monica Hodge, English.

Form Vb.—Wanda Rowley, history. Form Va.—June Carswell, history, geography; Diana Moffett, English. Cups.—Tennis championship, Wanda Rowley; girls’ drill cup, Diana Moffett; form drill cup, Forms 111 and II; House games cup, both tennis and basketball, Marchant House.