INGLEWOOD SCHOOL JUBILEE.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 May 1935, Page 6

INGLEWOOD SCHOOL JUBILEE.

The latest of the Taranaki State Schools to join the ranks of those which can claim a history of 'sixty years is the one at Inglewood. Jn this issue .of the Daily News the story of the school’s establishment and growth is told by those who have seen the forest make way for a well-ordered municipality surrounded by farms of which the productivity increases as better methods of use are applied. One of the records of which Taranaki can be proud is the interest shown amidst the difficulties of pioneering in providing educational opportunities for the children. When the Inglewood school was established the State system of education in England, with all her centuries of experience to guide it, was but five years old. Yet in a new country, amid difficulties provided by Nature and by man, the pioneer settlers set themselves to evolve a provincial education system that should give their children better opportunities than they had themselves received. The Inglewood school, like others which have celebrated their jubilees, can point to fine records of service by teachers and by those upon whom responsibility for control and upkeep devolved. The records bear testimony to the resolve by all concerned to accept responsibility, to try new methods, and to do their duty by the future which must lie in the hands of those for whom the school was instituted and maintained. That resolve exists to-day, although its manifestations have been altered by changing circumstance and outlook. The fine building in which the Inglewood pupils receive instruction to-day is a very different structure from that used 50 years ago. Nevertheless the spirit underlying .the effort which toade the first accommodation available also prompted the determination to obtain the present satisfactory school building. So long as a community is prepared to safeguard and expand the opportunities for further training and enlightenment of its children so long will it keep its soul alive and its progress assured.