WARDVILLE

Te Aroha News, Volume XLI, Issue 6521, 18 September 1924, Page 5

WARDVILLE

/ OPENING OF NEW SCHOOL > y *. . • A long - looked - fonvard-to event took place at Wardville on Friday, when the new school was officially opened by the chairman of the Edu,,cation Board, Mr A. Burns. Punctuat 1.30 p.m. Mr Burns arrived by car from Te Aroha, and there was a large muster of householders present • and a full attendance of the school children. Mr A. Orr, chairman of the' present school committee, formally welcomed Mr Burns on his first visit to the district in his capacity of chairman of the Education Board. He said the residents were to be congratulated on having Mr Burns in their midst. The speaker reminded his hearers of the big fight that had been put up in order to obtain the present school and site and he was sure that one and all in the district would be thankful that the desired end had at last been reached.

Mr J. Carroll, chairman of the previous committee, was then called on to say a few words. He traced the history of the Wardville school right/ from its beginning, from the time, in fact, when there - was no School at all and the children of the district had to go to Waharoa for instruction. He then dwelt on the old one-room school and the many disadvantages experienced there. He outlined the negotiations that had led to the establishment of the new school and the various setbacks that had been encountered before a grant could be obtained. However, all their difficulties had now been successfully overome and of this the fine new building that they were opening that day was a proof. Mr Burns, who was received with hearty applause, felicitated the residents and children on the advent of the new school. He gave some interesting facts and figures in regard to the institution. The schbol was opened on August Ist, 1917, in a building rented by the Board. In 1923 a school site of four acres was acquired at £6O per acre, a grant for this purpose being authorised by the Department. Last March a further grant of £535 was authorised, half the cost of erecting a school* building and supplying furniture, etc. Under the special circumstances of the case the Board agreed to pay the balance of the cost out of its own funds. The Board next accepted a tender of £IOB2 10s for the erection of the school. The building consisted of two classrooms each 21 h ft by 20ft, with a corridor '6ft wide. The floor space of the school was 860 ft. The present number, on the roll was 50 and the average attendance was 45. At its last meeting the Board had authorised a special grant of £lO towards- the drainage, fencing and supply of shelter trees for the school. The New Zealand ensign was then unfiu’led to the strains of the National Anthem. Mr Burns gave a most spirited and patriotic address to the children as to what the ensign stood for. It was the Union Jack — the emblem of liberty—blended with the Southern Cross—the symbol of their own fair, free land. He told them never to believe people who decried the flag—they did so only because they had never lived beneath any other. The boys of the school then lined up and saluted the flag in true military fashion. The last phase of a most enjoyable function was afternoon tea supplied / by the wives and lady friends of the of the school* committee.