GREY TECHNICAL SCHOOL

Grey River Argus, 20 April 1948, Page 6

GREY TECHNICAL SCHOOL

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

The following report was submitted on the activiteis of the school since the date of the board’s last meeting t>y the Principal, Mr W. M.. .Stewart—- ‘ The roll numbers and average attendance for the year are now defined; a considerable "number of those who were doing postal assignments, anti who even attended for some days when the school opened, have since lef t the •school to go to shop, office, ...ctdry, and a few have removes irom the district, and the final roll is”3T)l—2’oo boys .and 191 girls. This represents a. drop of 30 from the numbers', on which staffino- was based last . year, but the department has been advised that staffing will be the same ..as for-1947.'-The drop is not significant, or-local; in fact, -T am informed -by a -departmental officer mat most schools' Have experienced a much larger drop. Now that the roll nurr\ber is firm, riiembers will be interested in a- cross analysis of the numbers.’;By courses, trie roll is:— general secondary 138; commercial 71: Boys Technical Engineering and Woodwork 130; Domestic Science 63. By years of seriiority, ’ the nurnbers are:—Sixth Forms (Post School Certificate) 13 boys, 9 girls; Fifth Forms (third and fourth year). 52 boys, 42 girls; Fpurth Forms (second.year) 52 boys and 62 girls; Third Forms: 83 boys, 78 girls. From this the truth of’ the statement in. my last report, namely that. the<l947 over-weight of Fifth and Sixth Forhis has how been largely corrected, will be apparent, the attendance fo r the period has maintained the very satisfactory level of 94 per cent. .. a . I am pleased to report that a full staff has been present for duty during the. period. Thanks to the dillidence and efficiency of the grounds staff, the grounds and playing fields show promise of reaching an excellent condition. For one , occasion either through burning rubbish, or possibly through mischief, fire was set to one of the large bamboo bushes near the Arboretum, but, with the help of the Fire Brigade, it was extinguished with very little damage. EARLY HANDICAP ‘‘Owing to the loyal and consistent efforts of the staff and the fortunate element of a vastly improved position with regard to text-books, the handicap caused by the late start has now been almost, if not completely overtaken. An important factor in this has been that much of the foundation physical education work, which is usually covered during .February has had to b P by-passed. Roweyex*, tne continuance of lin e weather has enabled us to overcome this loss to a great extent. “It is hoped, at the end of this term, to have a visit from the Traffic Instructional officer of the Education Department, and from Mr Haagen Holenberg, the eminent pianist, whose visits on previous occasions have been a source of delight and inspiration to all. Arrangements are in hand to have the pupils and staff of the school devote the machinery of the scnooi organisation to the needs of the Save tne Children Campaign. This is a type of activity in which this school lias always won creditable success, and the stark need of the occasion may well inspire all to their very best efforts.' •"‘The work of the manual training continues tp progress along healthy routine lines. At both centres —Greymouth and Hokitika —the classes are well up in numbers (one or two of them rather too much so). At Hokitika the work includes some craft and fine art for the core preparation of the district high school, and in the cash of the boys we have even riianaged to incorporate some elementary metal work. Apart from one or two classes, for which a few enquiries have been made, and which may come to the stage of seeking departmental approval, the pattern of the evening school is now complete for the year. There are 35 classes in all-—five at Hokitika and 30 at Greymouth; 266 students are enrolled for 410 classes, so that the over-all average pe r class is close upon 12 students.-One or two of the classes, owing to special circumstances, have been given departmental permission to operate at rather lower than the regulation strength, but a good riiany classes are well above it. As for courses, the 35 classes are organised as follows — commercial 2; continuation and exam classes (maths, English, French history, geography and social studies) 4; plumbing 4; third marine, wiremen’s theory, and higher building theory 3; diatetics 3; dressmaking 4; arts and crafts 1; trades woodwork, theory and practice 2; homecraft woodwork 5; motor theory and practice 4; engineering and welding 2; machine drawing 1. “School subscriptions received to date have amounted to £lO2 2s 6d and receipts for travelling expenses are £l5. Payments have amounted to £123 Is 3d, the main items being— School Magazine £79 16s 2d; teams travelling expenses £29 3s 8d; entertainment £2 4s sd; programmes £9 2s; sundry (affiliation, advertising and administrative) £3 10s. With one account outstanding for £5 13s 3d the balance in hand in the fund is £37 11s lid. , , , The annual athletic sports, held immediately before Easter, were up to the usual high standard, both m performance and in the number of punils taking an enthusiastic part. Cricket and tennis closed for the season with the annual enjoyable matches against Christchurch West Hifh School and football and basketball are now in full swing.”