ANNUAL REPORT OF INSPECTOR OF NELSON SCHOOLS.

Lyell Times and Central Buller Gazette, Volume VI, Issue 257, 23 January 1886, Page 2

ANNUAL REPORT OF INSPECTOR OF NELSON SCHOOLS.

The following we extract from Mr W, C. Hodgson's Annual Report laid before the Nelson Education Board on the Bth instant:— Lyell : Mr Rotton. (Present, 40 ; on roll, 46).—This school again came well to the front, not a single failure being recorded. Some of the work was so good as to deserve special mention—l refer to the Reading, the Letter-writing, and the History. The Arithmetic was well done with a few exceptions. The discipline is as good as the teaching. AltLougli the Hand-writing is fairly good, it is a mistake to defer writing in copy books until scholars have passed the First Standard, as is the practice here. Murchison (Aided School): Mr Huddleston. (Present 17 ; on roll, 24.) The scholars, this year, fell somewhat short of what they attained at the previous examination. The irregularity of attendance hilly accounts for this falling off, but cannot be excused by the usual pleas of bad roads, or distance from school, the worst offenders living hard by. Arithmetic and Hand-writing are the weakest subjects. Jn other respects the children did fairly well. Fern Flaf : Miss Lane. (Fresent, 23; on roll, 28). The scholars here, who did very badly last year, fully redeemed themselves on this occasion, one only of the eleven presented failing to pass. This result is all the more creditable to the mistress because the attendance is far irom regular. The children are neat, but rather slow workers. Six Mile, Matakitaki (Aided School): Mr F. Hodgson. (Present, 12; on roll, 15.)— r lhis school, when examined, had been open only nine months, and, owing to the inexperience of the teacher, who was iguorant of the requirements ot the Standards, most of the scholars attempted work which was just a year beyond them. Arithmetic proved fatal to all but two candidates. The rest of the work was fairly well done. Capleston : Mr Twisleton : assistant, Miss M'llae. (Present, 78 ; on 1011, 87.{ —lt speaks well for the soundness of the training given by the late master, Mr Russell, that although three teachers had been successively at work since he left, and the school had been actually closed for a short period, only four of the fortyfive scholars presented for Standards tailed. History and Haud-writing, especially the latter, are. as hitherto, the weak points. There is no fear that the school will fill off under the present naster, who is a teacher of proved rapacity. He had been at work between two and three months when the school was examined.

Keefton: Mr Burnham ; assistant master, Mr Dowling; assistants, Miss Moller, Miss Anderson, and a probationer. (Present, 245; on roll, 270.) As was the case last year, the results of the examination was somewhat chequered. The Fifth and Sixth Standard scholars, taught by the head-master, succeeded so well that there was not a single failure in any subject, the Arithmetic, both slate and mental, being of exceptional merit. Beading was the only part of the work that was somewhat disappointing. That portion of the Fourth Standard scholars which had been under the sole charge of the head-mast' r until quite recently, also acquitted itself very well. But, owing to a combination of adverse circumstances, which need not now be further referred to (one of them being changes in the teaching staff), the work, both 01 the remaining portion of the Fourth Standard candidates, and of those who attempted the Third, was of indifferent quality, about a third of the two classes failing to pass. The First and Second Standard candidates did well, as usual, the Reading, Spelling, and Arithmetic of the latter, being especially creditable. It is only fair to the painstaking and thoroughly efficient teacher who has lately been appointed to the assistant mastership, to explain that he cannot be held in any way responsible for the partial failure of the two classes now under his charge. Drill, both school and military, now forms a prominent feature in the school course. The organisation of the whole school is excellent, the discipline leaving nothing to be desired. The whole staff works most harmoniously under the undisputed direction of the head master. Black's Point : Mr Green and two j probationers. (Present 98; on roll, 111.) | —The scholars here made a very perceptible advance on their unsatisfactory performances of last year. The work of every class, with the exception of that which took up the Second Standard, was fairly well done. The Sixth Standard boys, one of whom was only eleven, and another twelve years old, gave in most creditable papers, in every subject. The letters generally, were patterns of neat writing and orderly arrangement. The Arithmetic also was creditable in every class but one. History was the weakest 1 point. Westport Boys : Mr Kay; assistant, Mr Boswell, and two probationers. (Present, 163; on roll, 180.) It is not often that a school like this, which for several years past has stood in the first rank, suddenly falls back to a very low place. Nor is it easy to account for so I great a faliing-off. It is true that the second muster left some four months before the examination, the head master following him about eight weeks afterwards. But school-work was never interrupted, temporary teachers being engaged at once. The results, however, with which mainly I am concerned, were most disappointing. No more than forty per cent, of the boys presented for Standards succeeded in passing, most of them very barely. Moreover, the proportion of passes (38 in all) to the roll number was only 21 per cent. No more than two of the nineteen candidates for the Fifth and Sixth Standards made full passes, all the rest failing in one or more subjects. The children children who took up the First Standard were the only ones who did even moderately well. Drill has at length been introduced in earnest, nor before it was time, to judge by the ungainly carriage of the boys,, and their Want of smartness. The present head and assistant masters have been appointed quite recently. Westport Girls : Miss Falla ; assisttant, Miss Virtue, and a probationer. (Present, 126; on roll, 143). - The attendance here, formerly very i regular, has much improved of late. This has told very favourably on the progress of the girls, who acquitted themselves credit ibly this year. No scholar failed in either the Fifth or the Sixth Standards and it is not too much to say of the Arithmetic and Letter-writing of the latter class that they were excellent. The junior classes had also been carefully and effectively taught. [Continuation of News, see 4th Page.]