LARGEST SCHOOL

Hokitika Guardian, 20 January 1930, Page 5

LARGEST SCHOOL

EMPIRE RECORD CLAIMED

SYDNEY, January 9

According to statistics collected by the headmaster (»Vlr R. Henderson) the Bankstown Public School, in one of Sydney’s most populous western suburbs, which has 2538 regular attendants and a staff of 61 teachers, is the largest in the British Empire, , and ranks close to being the largest in the world. At the end of 1928 Bankstown rrfcked fifth amongst the largest schools in New South Wales. At the end of 1929 ' it was not only' the largest in New South Wales, but it exceeded any in New Zealand, Canada, England, or 'Scotland.

Letters were sent last year to the Directors of Education in Victoria New Zealand, and South Africa, to the Provincial Ministers for Education in Canada, and to the governing bodies in London, Glasgow, and New York. Replies to these show that no school in New Zealand has an enrolment of more than 900 children, and none in Victoria exceeds 1600. In the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario there are no schools with more than 1100 pupils, hut in Quebec there is one with 2124 pupils. In Glasgow with an area of more than 19,000 acres, which is a little larger than the Bankstown municipality, and a population nearly as large as Sydney, the only schools with an'enrolment of over 2090 are denominational. 1 lie- largest in England is Burghley, in North London, which has an attendance of 2936.

in addition to its claim of being the largest school, Bankstown lias gioun more rapidly than any other. It "as first opened in 1915 with 30S pupils and four teachers. The school opened with four temporary rooms, which are still in use, and permainent building was erected in 1916. In 1918 and infants’ department was formed, and in 1923, with the erection of 12 more permanent rooms, a girls’ department was established. Domestic science and manual training classes followed, and in 1927 a new infants’ school was built. Even with the additional build T ings the school overcrowded. Eight classes are cooped up in corridors, 11 temporary rooms are in use, .and two small ones, once used as shelter sheds have been pressed into service. In addition, a hall nearby is utilised for the accommodation of some of the girls.