ABOLISHED!

Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 564, 30 November 1915, Page 11

ABOLISHED!

HIGH SCHOOL PREPARATORY DEPARTMENT.

EXISTENCE TO CEASE NEXT MONTH.

At its meeting yesterday Afternoon the Board of Governors of Canterbury College resolved, on the -motion of Mr T. W. Adams, that the preparatory department at the Boys' High School be closed as from the end 01 the' current year. That means that after December 20 the preparatory department will cease to exist. The circumstances surrounding the carrying of that v motion were rather peculiar, for the resolution was contrary to the recommendation of a sub-committee which had specially enquired into the matter, but it was in accordance with the views of ' a larger .committee of the board. The College Committee reported that it had considered the following report of the "' High Schools Visiting Sub-committee:—The High Schools Visiting Sub-committee beg to report that, after careful consideration of the memoranda of the headmaster and the lady principal, they recommend that the preparatory departments in the- schools be continued, provided that the payment of salaries does, not contravene the Education Act; and that a master for the preparatory department at the Boys' High School be advertised for "at a salary consisting of the fees of the pupils, secretarial allowance (£2O), and supervision at the hostel (£3O), and that the mistress of the preparatory department at the Girls' High School r«snairi in statu quo and, in connection with the Having passed the following motion:—"That the subsidising of a teacher's salary for the preparatory department of the Boys' High School, being a contravention "of the Education Act, the i recommendation of the High SeJ&ols Visiting, Sub-committee be notagreed to." After being discussed at. length by the board, in committee, the report from the College Committee was adopted, by seven votes to six, and Mr T. W. Adams's resolution was then carried. ..-.-_ . = :''. : '

. As the matter was discussed in committee, members of the board, when interviewed by a Sim representative, declined to express opinions as to the effect which the abolition of the preparatory department will have upon the Boys' High School, or to give any indication of the reasons which caused a bare ma jority of the board to vote against the recommendation of the * High Schools Visiting Sub-committee. So the reasons for the board's action cannot be explained authoritatively. It is evideflTThowever, that the key to. the situation lies in the College Committee's resolution,, in which it is pointed* out that the subsidising of a teacher's salary for the preparatory department of the Boys' High School is in contravention of the Education Act. The portion of the Act wfaigh bears ;on the liiatter is that portion of Clause 97 wliicji per-* mits a secondary school to .admit pupils who have not obtained a certificate of proficiency, or its,equivalent, "to a lower department of such secondary school if they are taught in a separate building or class-room, and if it* can be shown to the satisfaction of the Minister that no part of the actual cost of their instruction or, of the .establishment, management, or maintenance of such lower department is met out of the endowments of the school or out of any moneys granted by Government."

For about 10 years prior to the passing of "The <Education Act, 1914," the Boys' High School had a lower school which was of almost the same nature as the present preparatory department, and which became the preparatory department when the Act came into force. There are 14 pupils attending it, and that happens to be within a fraction of the average number. The tuition fees are identical with those for the main school—£3 10/- per term for boys over 12, and £2 10/- per term for boys under 12. As the Act requires the preparatory department of a secondary school which is possessed of public endowments or receives a Government grant to be selfsupporting, the matter of finance, it is thought, influenced the board considerably. As a "feeder" to the Boys' High School the preparatory department does not ibulk largely, when it is considered that it has only 14 pupils, while there are 226 pupils in the main school. On the other hand, some parents do not like to send their children, who are intended to receive secondary education later, to the public primary schools, and the department which is to be abolished has accorded with the desires of these parents. There are also old boys of the High School who desire that their own boys shall receive practically all their education at the High School. When the preparatory department is abolished these parents will have to send such of their boys as are not possessed of the qualification necessary to admission to the main school at the Boys' High 'School to the preparatory department at Christ's College, or to a primary school. The lowest standard in the main school of the Boys' High School is equivalent to the Fifth Standard in the primary schools. As a rule, boys have entered the preparatory department with an equivalent to the Third Standard of the primary schools, and have had to pass an examination equivalent to the Sixth Standard to go from there to the main school. The instruction given in the preparatory department is much the same as that given to boys in primary schools, but with a little higher grade instruction in order to provide a certain amount of correlation between the department and the main school.