THE NELSON SCHOOL INSPECTOR'S REPORT.

Westport Times, Volume XVI, Issue 1966, 13 January 1882, Page 4

THE NELSON SCHOOL INSPECTOR'S REPORT.

( Continued.) Charleston Boys: Mr Delany ; temporary assistant, Miss Fries. (Present, 80; on roll, 84.) The result of this year's examination can only be characterised as a lamentable failure. The lower classes did badly, the upper ones worse. Two only of the twenty-six scholars presented for the Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Standards succeeded in passing. Nor was the conduct of the scholars such as to compensate in any degree for their literary "deficiencies. The chattering was incessant. Every one who could copied unblushingly from his neighbour. It became my unpleasant duty to turn one of the older boys out of the school for stealthily refering to a map hidden under his desk, and I have reason to believe that he was by no means a solitary offender. The fact that I entirely failed to impress the master with a sense of the impropriety of his prompting his scholars during examination may possibly throw some light on this unwonted state of things. Charleston Girls : Mrs Sukted ; temporary assistant, Miss O'Conor. (Present 79 ; on roll, 91.) This school has again been so unfortunate as to lose its teacher, and had been without a head mistress for two months before the present mistress took charge, about six weeks before my examination. The girls, as might perhaps have been anticipated, failed utterly in almost everything they attempted, three only of the fifty-two presented being able to pass. It is to be hoped that the present energetic teacher will remain long enough to restore the school to the respectable position formerly held. But the task before her is sufficiently arduous to require for its full accomplishment the cordial co-operation of School Committee, parents, and scholars. Something has been effected already, chattering, inattention, and copying having been sternly checked. Brighton: Mrs Murphy. (Present, 38 ; on roll, 45.) The scholars here did only moderately well in most subjects, and in two of the first importance—Spelling and Arithmetic—badly. The handwriting, especially that of the lower classes, is not equal to what I expect and usually find at country schools. The children read fluently, and have been •well grounded in History. \ Fern Flat: Mr Burrell (late Miss Coveney.) (Present, 15; on roll, 20.) The present teacher had begun work only a week before my examination, the school having been dosed since his predecessor left", two months previously. As the school had been at work only eighteen months altogether, I think the children did fairly well, under the circumstances. Arithmetic was the sti digest, Geography the weakest part of the work. Correctness in reading had not been sufficiently insisted on. Lyell: Mr Bakewell. (Present, 3G ; on roll, 42.) The excellent results produced here at the end of eighteen months are all the more satisfactory to me because cramming has not been resorted to, and night lessons and corporal punishment alike have been dispensed with. My doctrine that the monstrous evening tasks inflicted on young children might be done away with by a master who understood his business, and kept his scholars really at work during school hours, has received a striking confirmation here. Not only did all but one of those presented pass well—some in the higher standards, — but the work throughout, with a single exception (letter-writing), I was of very good quality. Teachers who cannot get their scholars through the standard work without sending them home laden with an armful of books arc simply putting upon their pupils the burden of their own incompetence. Recfton: Mr Chattock; assistants, Mrs Parry, Miss Moller. (Present, 130 ; on roll, 103.) The scholars here acquitted themselves very well. The Arithmetic throughout was of good quality, the Handwriting, as usual being excellent. The older scholars did fairly well in Gegography, History, and Science. In Composition they showed but little power of expression. They were, as a rule, neat but slow workers. The younger classes are well trained by the assistants, their work being singularly even. They are all taught to read distinctly, and to obey promptly. Plaok's Point: Mr Edridge ; assistant, Miss Anderson. (Present, 07 ; on roll, 81.) This school did remarkably well in every class, and in every subject but History, of which few, even of the older scholars know much. The Arithmetic was accurate, the Grammar, Composition, and Reading being all of more than average merit. The papers of the upper classes were despatched very quickly. The copy books were neat. Only one scholar out of all who were presented failed to pass. The work of the assistant was very good. The discipline was all that could be desired.