SCHOOL AT THE SEASIDE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 2479, 12 September 1922, Page 2

SCHOOL AT THE SEASIDE.

JN order to further popularise the local seaside an agitation was set afoot some months ago to establish a school there. Several parents who resided permanently at the seaside felt that certain hardships were imposed upon their children in having to send them to the local school, a distance of about three miles. Application was made to the Education Board which sanctioned the establishment of a side-school, which would throw added responsibility upon the local committee and add to the duties of the local headmaster. The committee objected on the grounds that it would be more economical and in the educational interests of the children to have them conveyed to and from the Beach to the school. The cost of such conveyance was £3 per school week. This amount was in excess of the grant allowed for each child, viz. 9d per head per day. Those responsible for the agitation, in order to curtail expense, guaranteed the free use of the hall at the Beach for a period of three years for school purposes and the Board has decided that a side-school will be established. The Board’s decision, however, will need to square with the Act, which reads: — Section 54 (2). “Wherever there are, or may be provided, in the opinion of the Board, suitable means of public conveyance, . . .

the Board shall, instead of establishing a new school, arrange for the conveyance of the children to and from an existing school.” “Part lll.—Side-Schools. —A side-school is a school which is attached to another school and is distant more than a quarter of a mile but not more than THREE MILES therefrom and to which there are admit fed pupils up to a class to be determined by the Board, but in any case not higher than Standard IV. and up to an age not higher than eleven years.” The proposed site of the sideschool is distant more than three miles from the main school. That is a proven fact. In the second place the cost of conveying the children to and from the Beach would amount to £l2(i per annum and there the expense ends. If a side-school is established over the legal distance, there will be the expense of furnishing, the employment of an extra teacher to take charge, supervision by the local headmaster, expense of cleaning and heating, etc., at an added cost much above the payment of locomotion, to say nothing of the added responsibility placed upon the local committee. Before the committee accepts the Board's decision it should request the Minister to have the distance taken and supply to the committee the number and ages of the children proposed to be served. We give second place to neither Board member, inspectors or Beach residents in our endeavour to promote the educational welfare of the children in the locality but we protest against an agitation which seeeks to set the Act at defiance. If the number of children of permanent residents at the seaside warrants a school, then a. separate school should lie demanded, but to attempt to establish a side-school under the circumstances is neither legal nor justifiable.