SCHOOL JUBILEE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 829, 25 November 1929, Page 14

SCHOOL JUBILEE

MOUNT EDEN'S GROWTH FIFTY YEARS OF PROGRESS Scholars and old boys of the Mount Eden District School will meet'at a reunion to bo held at the school grounds on Saturday, December 7, to celebrate the jubilee of the school on its present site. It is hoped to raise a good sum at the reunion for improvements to the playing fields and the grounds. When the first school was opened in a small wooden building at the corner of- Mount Eden and Valley Roads in 1877, the headmaster was Mr. P. E. Stevens. Two years later aoneroomed building at the corner of Valley and Sherbourne Roads was bought, forming the nucleus of the present school block. Mr. P. S. Smallfield was first headmaster, with the help of two women assistants, teaching 80 children in three classes.

For some time the building was swept by girls kept in as a punishment, and the grounds were brought giadually into shape by voluntary labour. There were no shelter sheds and lava rocks covered the playing area. The water supply, too, was in a very bad state.

Through entertainments, funds were raised to establish a library, in 1880 tho roll number was 148 and even when the accommodation was extended during the following year, the lumbers had to be limited to 260. In 189« Mr. G. JST. Phillips became headmaster for a year, his place being taken by Mr. Alfred Hosking, who Mas m charge for 26 years. During term H ie .Mount Eden swimming baths were built by the borough council. assisted by parents. Scholars are admitted free for tuition. Further schools have been built in this district of recent years. In 3 01° Maungawhau was founded, being added to several times. Plans for a v, C m°,, ln Brixton Kond "‘ere postponed \wth the opening of the Kovvhai Junior H 1 ® n fif f ? I < r ho ° 1 m . 3 922. which absorbed the fifth and sixth standards of the Mount Eden School, bringing the roll number down to 750. Congestion in IS-o necessitated the building of the Brixton Road School, and has now l»d to three new rooms being added to the parent building. A normal school has also been established at the Tram M g tx COl i? ge ' and a subsidiary school to the Mount Roskill School built at the Dominion Road terminus.