EDUCATION.

Lyttelton Times, Volume IV, Issue 172, 22 April 1854, Page 14 (Supplement)

EDUCATION.

The following extract of Minutes of the Executive Council is taken from the " Government Gazette" of April 15th : Extract of minutes of the Executive Council, dated April 10, 1854. His Honor the Superintendent brings under the consideration of the Executive Council the subject of the expenditure of the sum voted by the Provincial Council for the service of Education for the current year. The Council agree to the following minute thereon. 1. Until the details of a system of Education for the Province shall" be settled by a local Ordinance, the grant shall be expended in accordance with the provisions of the Education Ordinance of New Zealand, Sess. "VIII., No. 10. 2. Two classes of schools shall be established, (1) Upper schools, providing a classical and commercial education. (2) District schools?, providing education adapted to the wants of the mass of the population. Upper Schools. 3. The Grammar School established at Chnstchurch shall receive such assistance as may be necessary for the addition thereto of a department of commercial Education, the school remaining- under its present system and management: provided that it shall be subject to the inspection, and its accounts to the audit, of the Government, in such manner as His Honor may direct. 4. A Grammar and Commercial School shall be established at Lyttelton under the

superintendence of the Bishop of the Diocese. 5. The Bishop, or in his absence the Bishop's Commissary, shall, with the approval of the inspector appointed by the Government, appoint the masters, and, with the approval of the inspector and of the headmaster, make rules for ordering the system of instruction to be pursued, and the general conduct and management of the school. 6. A fee of £2 10s. a quarter shall be paid for every pupil. District Schools. 7. District schools under the superintendence of the Bishop shall be established as soon as possible in the following places :— Christchurch, Riecarton, Papanui, the Ferry Road, Lyttelton, Governor's Bay, Akaroa, Okains Bay, and from time to time in such other places as the wants of the population may require, and the funds at the disposal of the Government may admit. 8. At Christchurch and Lyttelton, the schools shall consist of two departments, one for boys and the other for girls, which shall be under the charge of a master .and mistress separately. A similar division will be made in all the schools as the funds arising from the fees shall justify the increased expenditure. 9. The District Schools in each district shall be placed in connexion with the Grammar school: those at Christchurch, Biccarton, Papanui and the Ferry Road, with the Grammar-school at Christchurch : those at Lyttelton with the Grammar-school at Lyttelton. And the master of the Upper school shall visit and superintend the District schools : and the. masters and mistresses, of the latter shall report to and shall receive instructions from them., 10. The schools at Akaroa and Okains Bay, shall be visited and superintended by the Incumbent of Akaroa. 11. The Bishop, or in his absence, the Bishop's Commissary, shall with the consent and approval of the visitor and inspector of each school, appoint the master or mistress thereof; and shall make rules for ordering the system of education to be pursued and the general conduct and management of" the school. 12. The fees in the District Schools shall be one shilling a week for a single child, or ninepence each for two children, or sixpence each for three or more children of the same family, which shall be paid on each Monday morning in advance of the week. 13. The religious teaching in the above schools shall be in accordance with the doctrines of the Church of England : but any child, upon a written request to that effect, addressed to the master or mistress by his or her parents or guardians, may receive instruction in the school without such religious teaching. 14. Children may be admitted into District Schools by the master or mistress, but may only be removed therefrom by the visitor on a special report from the master or mistress : and after careful enquiry into the charges made. 15. Every case of corporal punishment inflicted by any master or mistress, shall be entered in a book to be kept for that purpose, which shall be laid before the visitor. 16. A daily attendance book shall be kept in every school in which the master or mistress shall enter the attendance of every child day by day, and this book shall always He open for the inspection of the visitor and inspector. 17. All Fees shall be collected by the master or mistress, and shall be accounted for to the inspector once in every quarter. All salaries shall be paid once in every quarter, and shall include the fees collected.

18. No expenses shall be incurred on account of any school, except under the authority of the visitor, approved by the inspector. 19. The Provincial Secretary shall from time to time furnish to the inspectors estimates of tlie expenditure for salaries and contingencies sanctioned by the Government for each school. And such estimates shall never be exceeded unless by special authority of the Government. 20. The annual reports made by the inspectors under the provisions of the Education Ordinance shall be as soon as possible laid before the Provincial Council. Examinations and Rewards. 21. There shall be a public examination once in every half year of all the children in every school; and the examiners shall be the Bishop or his Commissary, the visitor and the inspector, or some persons appointed severally by each of them. The child who shall pass the best examination and shall be recommended by the master or mistress for general good conduct, shall be entitled to receive instruction for one year free of all charge at the cost of the Government. 22. There shall, be a voluntary public examination once in every year, at such time and place, and by such Examiners, as His Honor the Superintendent shall appoint, of any boys who shall have received regular instruction in any District Schools of the Province for one year and upwards, and who shall present a certificate from their masters of good conduct during the past year. And the boy who shall then pass the best examination shall be entitled to receive instruction for two years as a day scholar in the Grammar School at Lyttelton or Christchurch free of all charge, at the expense of the Government.