AN INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL

Taranaki Daily News, 23 October 1930, Page 6

AN INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL

IMEW PLYMOUTH SCHEME fe'-; •

EDUCATION BOARD FAVOURABLE.

PARENTS TO BE CONSULTED.

■Whether th© New Plymouth Central School, which was destroyed by lire some three months ago should be replaced by a building to be used as a primary school or' as an intermediate school to accommodate all the pupils of standards V. and VI. now attending the New Plymouth'primary schools' was a subject that again evoked • considerable discussion tat the-'meeting of the Taranaki Education Board yesterday.’. '. A committee’s report recommending the establishment of an intermediate type l of school. was finally adopted by five votes to , one after two proposals toi defer consideration had been lost on the casting vote of.the acting-chairmai). The Central School Committee fory yarded a copy of a resolution sent to the Minister of Education urging that the buildings be replaced immediately. In a letter to the board the Minister promised to bring before Cabinet at an early date the question of a grant for re-building the school, and in reply to r a telegram, f^pm. the comrni.ttee protecting against the protracted delay he had stated that in view of the neces-r sity for considering the whole (jiiestibh of the future education system in New Plymouth he could not agree that there had been any avoidable delay. Mr. A. Lees maintained that, there had-been avoidable delay as it was understood from th© Director of Education that th© building could be gone on with as it would be suitable no matter which type of school was desired. Th© New Plymouth High?;-Schools’ Board of Governors also a'sked that nothing should be done -to jeopardise th© working of its amalgamated schools. It was suggested that the Education Board should hear the 'views of the High Schools’ Board and. th© principals before coming, to a decision. • Th© chairman. (Mr. J. A. Valentine) said that th© board had no indication as ,to the High School, Board’s desires, but it was th© intention of the board to insist that there should be no Form 111. attached to the proposed intermediate school. ' COMMITTEE’S ADVICE.

The committee/ which comprised Messrs. P., J. H?f WJlite, ?. Jones, H. Dempsey and J. A. Valentine, made the, following -recommendations: That an intermediate type of school be established in New/ Plymouth; ip view of the fact that: it appears certain that an. intermediate.echopl will not be established in New Plymouth if one is recommended at the high school, the proposed intermediate school be erected on*»the Central school site; that the school be a single-storey building; that provision for housing all. the pupils of Form I. to standard 4 of the .Central school district be made on or near the Courtenay Street * site, and to enable this, to be done the existing Courtenay Street school remain as an infant side

school up to and including standard 2, and. a. school be built to accommodate standards 3 and 4 of a restricted Central school district, x The committee also ■ recommended th|t the whole • scheme be laid before thi-parents eac h school district; that nig Form 111. be attached to the intermediate school; that an agreement be

made with the High Schools’ Board as t<> the use of the technical school and edjiipment for the proposed intermedia®‘pupils; ’ that' a proper correlation owwork be ensured between the intermediate school, classes and the, courses in?' Form 111. of the local high -. school, ap'd that provision be made for the appointment of teachers? fully, qualified to carry on the Work required' in. an intermediate school. ' '

:In reply, to Mr. Lees the chairman said that in'round figures the cost of replacing the Central school would be about £112,000 whereas it would cost probably an additional £12.000 to provide the intermediate type, of school. ■Candidly he did not think Cabinet would provide the- money, though it was a golden opportunity to have the type of school established in New Plymouth. ...

, . IS IT.U NECESSITY?'' y? *' , Mr. Lees question to be Considered was whether an i intermediate school was absolutely, necessary. No doubt it would b® a good thing in providing. for smaller classes and more concentration,-but he, would like to know first how much of that could be Carried out if more "consideration were given-to primary schools.. The report of the Recess Committee proposed to reduce the size of all classes to 35

■within th© next five years. The- department could not do better than make a start in Taranaki. If the classes were reduced in size teachers could undertake a certain amount of the work that i it was proposed to do in the junior high schools. Primary schools were suffering, •while secondary schools were receiving favouritism. In the matter of capitation secondary schools received five times a.s much as primary schools, and in some cases were 'able to put their money out at interest. If the Government had any extra moneyV available it could not expend it better than in overcoming defects in the primary syetem, firstly in the reduction of classes, and secondly there was. continual trouble in regard to the transfers of teachers owing to the rise and fall in grade. That difficulty could be overcome fi efficiency rather than grading counted. Instead of going to th© extra expanfie of establishing , a junior high school in 1 New Plymouth the £12,000 should be utilised in the primary schools. The Recess Committee was not unanimous as to the value of junior high schools, and leading educationists were also divided in opinion, gjt. was difficult to know whose opinion to follow. He also doubted whether the tune was opportune for the expenditure of so much money, especially as New Plymouth was already very well equipped. The New Plymouth Boys’ High ■School would compare more than favourably with any school in the Dominion, but it was proposed to give extra facilities t 0 New Plymouth, whereas in the country districts the. children today were being penalised. He favoured giving any extra facilities to count/y children.

problem of the SITE.

'Another aspect to be considered was (he site of the proposed school.. The views of Mr. W. H. Moyes,' a man of great educational experience, should be given due consideration, and it seemed to be his opinion that it would be better to have an intermediate school erected alongside the high school, if it were to be erected. A certain amount ®f irioney might be saved in that way. The Director of Education had raised th® objection that if the school were Attached, to the high, school it would ’become too unweildy, but if they had the right teachers .and sufficient of them there should be no difficulty. Moreover there would be more contin- ' While his name was subscribed to

the report, Mr. P. J. H- White said it was a report of expediency because he did not want- to miss any chance of introducing an educational reform in New Plymouth. He agreed with Mr. Lees that if the same facilities were given io .primary schools,' the advantages of the intermediate type of school would be gained. The reason he subscribed to the. report was because in all the conversations that had taken place over the matter the suggestion had come- from the department, that the type of> school was going to be established somewhere in New Zealand as an experiment. From the information that the committee had it felt that the Taranaki Board should' not miss the opportunity of securing a good thing if it was to be had. He did not agree with v the establishment of a separate high school, preferring that it' should be attached to the existing high school, as had been done with satisfactory results at Waitaki. It. might then be possible to extend it to the other high schools in Taranaki. They were led to believe, though he did not know that the Director of Education actually said so, that their only ’ chance of securing this improvement-was in establishing fthe type of school- outlined by the department, and he would not like to take 'the responsibility, of. turning, down the offer. He understood. that before the school .was definitely established householders of the district concerned would have the. opportunity of discussing, the principles outlined in the report. He admitted that a considerable additional expenditure was required, but he realised also that if the school was not established in-New-Plymouth the £12,000 saved would not .be expended in primary schools but would be expended in establishing an' intermediate school elsewhere.-

4S AN EXPERIMENT. ■

Mr. W. H- Jones said it had been made clear that • the school was .to be established as an experiment, and if Taranaki did not get -it som© other district would. They had an opportunity of doing something • for Taranaki an opportunity that would not recur. The chairman said that the position had been forced on them by the- fire at the Central school and by the suggestion of the department. Irrespective of whether the .school should bo established alongside the high school or as a separate entity, the great advantage was that it brought together a large number of children of the. same standard, who could be grouped in sections according to their mental calibre undbr different teachers and so would obtain better opportunities. No 'matter how small the classes were—even if reduced to 20 —one teacher could not do justice to the various type of children in an. ordinary school. Moreover, the bigger school would- be able to get the b®tter equipment. It. was clear that if the money were not expended in establishing a school in New Plymouth it would be expended similarly somewhere, else in New Zealand. Th© committee had made it cleai- that there was to be no. Form 111. attached to the school, as it would insist that the high schools, which had done such successful work, must not be interfered with. Dr. Thomson remarked that it would prove just as expensive to attach the schools to the high schools as to build on the present site. - Mr. Jones said the expense would be greater as separate schools would’ be, required for th© boys and girls. Mr. White pointed out that there would be no land to buy in that case. Moreover, the intermediate school would then -be attached to schools with traditions behind them. Dr. Thomson said that he would not like to have to take the responsibility of turning .down the proposal. It certainly was a forward step.

NO SIGN QF ENTHUSIASM.

Mr. J. McAllister said ho could not see one sign of enthusiasm or conviction about, the report, and that, made him inclined to fall in with Mr., Lees ideas. . However, as an opportunity existed of launching .out in New Plymouth the New rlymouth people would be very foolish if they lost it. The board was not responsible for the expenditure and should not consider that at this stage. If it recommended the proposal it should do so whole-heartedly; if not, it. should “go bald-headed” for the construction of the primary school. for an expression of opinion, Mr. McKenzie, the senior inspector, said that. he had no doubts as to the menit of the proposal, as he had seen it in operation. , The board was taking no risk in the matter. The boaid had 'done, many acts of pioneering in educational, matters, and it would be a pity to lose the opportunity. > Mr. Lees moved that consideration of the report be deferred till 'the next meeting,-saying speh an important matter should, bo discussed, by a full boaid. Mr. Jones ' considered that deferring consideration of the. report would defer the- erection of -the building. _ The? chair,man- agreed that, if the-:.re-, port - were adopted they would be a month further on. Until the report was adopted the board , had nothing to put before the people of New Plymouth-for discussion. • ■ '• ' If. the report was adopted by tfie board and then turned down by the New Plymouth people,-what would’the position be, asked Mr. Lees. Mr. McAllister, seconded the motion on the . understanding that if it were carried' the position would be placed before the public prior to next meeting of the board. The chairman said the report should either - be adopted or amended. On a; division Messrs. Lees, McAllister and White voted for the motion and Dr. Thomson, Mr. Jones and the chairman against. On the canting vote of the chairman the motion was lost.

On a motion to adopt the report Mr. McAllister moved an amendment to defer»it until the scheme had been subr mitted to the parents of the school districts concerned. The chairman said that the Director of Education had practically promised to visit New Plymouth and place the scheme before the parents concerned. Mr. Jones pointed out that the board must adopt the report before it coiild place ‘it fully before the parents-. The - nendment was. then lost on the casting vote of the chairman, the voting- being as before, and the motion was carried, only Mr. Lees voting against it. .