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The report of the headmaster is attached hereto : — London Missionary Society Subsidized Schools. —The Government subsidy for the year was paid to the local missionary. The Rev. H. Taylor arrived 011 the 17th November and has taken charge of the London Missionary Society's work on Niue. From October 1928, until the arrival of Mr. Taylor, the affairs of the London Missionary Society were in the hands of the senior Native pastor, Neri Lupo, who supervised the educational work of the ten Mission schools. lam pleased to report that during this period the work of the ten schools proceeded satisfactorily and the good progress made reflects great credit on this Native. The following are the attendance figures of the ten Mission schools for the year 1929 : —

The year's work just completed has been a most successful one from the point of view of ground covered and results obtained. The children have made excellent progress and have shown a keen interest in their work and play. Staff. —The teachers' classes commenced last year have been continued throughout the year, the whole of the syllabus of work laid down for the teachers' examinations i being covered. The classes were well attended by the staff of both schools, who did very good work. The following subjects were dealt with as simply and as fully as possible : Arithmetic, English composition (English and vernacular) spelling, writing (including black-board), reading, drawing ; and under the heading of " General " were grouped health, geography, singing, and civics. Dr. Dean gave a series of lectures on 1 Problems of Health and Hygiene on Niue." Not only was instruction given to enable the teachers to pass their examination, but detailed lessons were given as to the best methods of dealing with the various school subjects in the various classes. The examination was held in October last, and of the six teachers and three handicraft teachers who sat, five teachers and one handicraft mistress qualified for a certificate. Syllabus of Instruction. —During the year a new syllabus of instruction has been drafted embodying any alterations and additions that have been found necessary in subjects, extent, and methods of instruction. This new syllabus is not experimental, but has been based 011 the general outline of work carried out by previous teachers and amended where the past three years' work has shown a definite need for revision. Such revision has been made more with a view to placing matters on a more detailed and definite footing than in introducing any radical alterations. The following are the .most important changes : — (a) Limiting the scope of the general subjects to the practical needs of the island. (b) Introducing a simple yet fairly comprehensive study of physical and world geography, with a view to broadening the ideas and outlook of the younger generation to the world about them. (c) Instruction in the vernacular to include reading, writing, spelling, and number work. (d) Increase in the time spent in Native handicraft with an extension of the scope of the subject to include growing and preparation of the raw material. (e) More systematic instruction in woodwork, with special regard to the care and use of tools, designs, &c. Schemes of work in detail based 011 the new syllabus are in course of preparation, and will be ready for use next year, but as the various changes have already been incorporated with the work of the schools, the new schemes will entail little or no change. A start has been made to provide reading material in the vernacular by the issue of the First Niue Reader, which has been revised and printed in book form. The Native is keen to learn, but at the same time the general educational needs of the island are not high, and the standard aimed at in the schools is necessarily a limited one. It is considered that, given an ample supply of suitable reading material in. the vernacular and later in English, the keen intelligence of the Native may, in the future, be directed towards gaining a wider knowledge of conditions, customs, and affairs of other countries. Another book is in course of preparation, and will be available next year. Work of the Schools. Reading. —Vernacular: The extra time devoted to this subject has given remarkably good results. The use of good methods and progressively arranged lessons has made the work interesting and progress rapid. In the upper classes the new reading books and cards, together with daily reading from the Niue Bible, have resulted in practically the whole of the children from Standard I up being able to read, write, and spell their own language fluently and correctly.

Quarter. j Males. Females. , Total. I Attendance. I J_ | First quarter .. .. 249 216 465 436-2 Second quarter .. .. 253 224 " 477 442-4 Third quarter . . .. 256 219 475 430-5 Fourth quarter .. .. 267 234 501 471-9 Average attendance for the year. 445-2.

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