“ADOPTED SCHOOLS.”

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3731, 17 December 1927, Page 1

“ADOPTED SCHOOLS.”

WELCOME INNOVATION. EDUCATION BOARD’S INSPECTOR’S WORK. A subject of considerable interest is that known as the “Adopted Schools” scheme, details of which were brought before the Wanganui Education Board at the monthly meeting of members on Wednesday night. ' The question was raised as a result of a report on the matter by the Board’s senior inspector, Mr. N. T. Lambourne. ■ “I would like to ask if this is an original plan adopted by the senior inspector',” said Mr. J. K. Hornblow, who pointed out the success of the scheme. It was pointed out, however, that the subject had been brought up in Auckland. “I think it is an excellent idea,” said another member, and .this view was endorsed by the meeting, who passed a motion congratulating the senior inspector for the interest he had taken in the matter. A vote of thanks to the headmasters concerned in the scheme, was also passed.

“You will be surprised to learn,” remarked the chairman (Mr. W. A. Collins) “that the whole cost to the Board will be 11/6. PLAN INAUGURATED. The ’following was the report presented to the meeting'by the inspector: —

“At the beginning of the year a plan of ‘adopted’ schools was inaugurated in the district. Eighteen parent schools generously agreed to adopt a. school each, and later one school took charge of two country schools, nineteen small schools, therefore, had the benefit of the advice and help of the teachers in our largest schools. All those who took part in the plan have been asked to give their opinion of its value and to suggest ways in which it can be improved or extended. The replies received are most encouraging; the success of the plan has far exceeded anticipations, and its advantages have extended in directions that were not foreseen. This gratifying result is due entirely to the enthusiasm and co-operation of the teachers who brought it about. Head teachers speak of .the keenness with which their colleagues in the country entered into the project, of the pleasure and advantage they themselves have derived from it, of the interest their pupils in the adopted schools to reach the standard of , Work set by those in the parent school. The general opinion is that the plan is a good one and should be continued.

“Adopted schools have consulted the larger schools in regard to schemes of work, timetables, matters of professional interest; some country' teachers have had more than one personal interview with the head teacher of the parent school; two adopted schools have been able to take their pupils for a day to the town school; one or two head teachers have been able to visit their ‘adoptel school. PLEASANT RELATIONS.

“Pupils have exchanged work, letters, and photographs; children in one very isolated school have invited children from a town school to spend part of the ’Xmas holidays with them; letter writing has been made something real. “The teachers of the adopted schools all speak of the generous and valuable help given by the larger schools; of the pleausre and advantage that has followed the interchange of work; of the benefit emulation and competition have been to classes in which there were only one or two pupils; and of the improvement in the quality of the work their scholars have done. Following are extracts from some of the letters received: “The plan has been a great help to me. It lias given confidence in school work and the exchange of work has set a standard at which to aim.’ The children are keenly interested in the scheme and try to improve thenown work. They delight in receiving correspondence and photographs from other children. To have a letter of his or her very own is no mean event in the life of a couiury child. I shall never forget the looks on the faces of children when the first batch of letters was distributed. If the system can result in what was evidenced by the few faces I saw before me, it repays any trouble or work involved a thousandfold. In widening what m, « some respects, an exceeding y n vow environment by brm P n f , . child into touch with anothei ■ community animated by like mtc ? ests, the system is truly eduu LIVE INTEREST TAKEN. “Correspondence has made letteiwriting a real thing. News items from the town are jj source ofji - light to the country child, f he P

has added a wonderful urge to do well on the part of the kiddies.’ ‘The children look forward to the arrival of the work from another school and enjoy comparing it with their own.’ ‘The visit to the parent school bore wonderful fruit. The children have corresponded regularly and are anxious to do as well as their correspondent.” “It is a generally expressed wish that the parent and adopted schools should be as near to each other as possible, and the teachers should exchange visits. “It is also suggested that library books.should be exchanged, and that nature study collections should be made and exchanged.”

The Government orchard instructor advises that fireblight is prevalend in the Wanganui and surrounding districts. Tragedy turned to comedy was the result of an indident in Otorohanga last week. A mother had left her baby in the perambulator. Oip returning, she found that a large safety pin was missing, and thought tire baby must have swallowed il. The father was called, ami in shirt sleeves he drove the car to Hamilton, 40 miles away, where three X-ray examinations failed to show any trace of the missing pin. It was not until the return that tlie pin was found in the foot of the pram.

A story of the Hon. E. W. Alison and the New Zealand poet, Tom Bracken, was told at a recital at Hamilton recently. When “Not Understood” was first published in the newspapers and the author was unknown, Mr. Alison recited it at a concert at Devonport. At the end lie received a great tribute of thanks from a shabby-looking individual who rose in the hall to say how much he as author of the poem, had appreciated Mr. Alison’s rendering.

Something cosily covered up in a pram attracted a Grey Lynn mother on Wednesday, ail on lifting the coverlet she was horrified to see a hairy face and two rows of sharp teeth. A cry of astonishment resulted in a small monkey bounding forth and making with alacrity for the back yard. The Zoo authoiities state that the wanderer is not an escapee from (that institution.