SCHOOL NURSERY

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 65, Issue 5547, 9 November 1942, Page 2

SCHOOL NURSERY

INNOVATION AT TE AWAMUTU

HEADMASTER EXPLAINS SCHEME

SUPPORT OF PLUNKET SOCIETY |

Details of the nursery course which it is intended to introduce into the Te Awamutu District High School curriculum were contained in a report submitted to the School Committee ing on Friday evening by the master 441 r W. G. S. Smith). '

Pointing out that the course was for 4B and 5B domestic girls who were al. ready taking cooking, hygiene, physiology, homecraft and dressmaking, and who had already had four or five years’ education in these subjects under a connected scheme commenced in Form I, the report continued:—

“Under the guidance of the local Plunket Nurse, who is most enthusi-

astic, the girls are to be trained in the care of infants from a few months to four years of age. The member of the staff in charge will be a domestic science teacher, Miss D. Moir. It is proposed to set aside the domestic science room and two other large rooms between 10.45 and 2.45 on Thursdays (market day), the whole to form a nursery centre. One room will be used for babies requiring cots and the ( other room will be fitted up as Kin- • dergarten. The girls will take turns in nursing and preparing the mid-day meals for their patients. We are hoping that after instruction and demonstrations by the Plunket Nurse and under the direction of Miss Moir, we

shall be able to give very efficient service which will not only help the mothers to enjoy their day in town much more freely, and benefit the children, but will also give the girls the opportunity of handling and caring for babies and provide them with excellent training in dietetics. The catering alone should justify our efforts by giving point to academic teaching and precept, and results should extend beyond the limits of our nursery scheme.

“Some of our girls are prospective teachers and they should gain greatly from experience with children at the older stages. Our woodwork, metalwork, and art departments will cooperate in providing equipment and toys for our scheme, and this should have a social as well as an economic value.

A letter from the Dominion secretary New Zealand Plunket Society to the headmaster was also to hand and was read to the meeting:—

"The executive desires to congratulate you on establishing such a course and desires to intimate that the nurse at Te Awamutu will co-operate with you in all possible ways to make the course a success.

“The better teaching of mothercraft in our schools has been much discussed at the six provincial conferences and it will be very heartening to all branches in the Dominion to know that teaching on the right lines is to be be commenced in Te Awamutu. The Society offers you its wholehearted co-operation in your scheme and the advice of its staff at all times. The Executive awaits with the greatest interest reports of the progress of the course.”

“We may be biting off more than we can chew,” Mr Smith commented, “but we can certainly bite.” Continuing, he said that both the children and the staff at the school were enthusiastic over the scheme, the success of which should be assured if the closest co-operation was maintained with the local Plunket Society.

Mr L. C. Day raised the question of liability in the event of an accident, and it was left to Mr Smith to make the necessary enquiries. As the utmost care would be assured, several members thought that a cheap insurance cover would be available.

Other speakers highly commended the move, describing the innovation as a “real service to the community.” In response to a question Mr Smith said that he hoped to have the nursery started by the time the normal school programme was commenced next March.