Town Schools.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 158, 6 July 1877, Page 5

Town Schools.

1. Bridge-street Boys : Mr. Price.— (2s.)— lTus school has steadily improved ia poiat of attainments since I examined it in December, and is certainly far in advance of what it was in June, 1876. The first class acquitted itself well in history, geography, and grammar, including the analysis of sentences. The arithmetic of this class was also much more accurate than I found it last year, the boys solving correctly, on an average, eight out of nine questions. The second and. third classes have made a corresponding improvement in the same subjects. None of the first class made any mistake in dictation. The handwriting, however, is by no means what it ought to be, and the dictation of the third class is still faulty. The discipline is very good. I have still to regret that the attendance is so small./" :;•""■ ~—— r - ._^.-_p \2 and, 3, Bridge-streel Boys, Second ak% Thirtd Divisions): Mr. Sdtfd^JfrlThompsdti.^W.^^t&k falliag of has takeii place} in this s^Jaboi, owi&^'to |fe> loig : iilfte§s of the*maste^%ho sttpOTmfcends^otk-4nV secoud and third divisions. The boys, nevertheless, read distinctly throughout, those in the upper class being able to give a clear account of what they have been reading. They also know something of the outlines of history, grammar, and geography. Their dictation is generally faulty, and their arithmetic inaccurate, especially in the 3rd division, where only seven out of forty passed in the simple rules. The discipline of the 2nd division is exceedingly good, that of the 3rd just as lax. 4. Bridge-street, Ath Division : Miss Rough ; Assistant, Miss Leach. — (134.) — I was most favorably impressed with the tone of this school, which has been open only six months. The teaching is as good as the discipline. The children read distinctly, and were well grounded in the multiplication table. The upper class also wrote correctly an easy piece from dictation, their average age being eight years. ! 5. Hardy-street Girls, First Division : Mrs. Sait — i (57.)— Although the numbers in daily attendance, 58, j are unusually large for a single teacher, all the classes ■ are exceedingly Avell taught and well disciplined. The I reading and writing are still unsurpassed, if, indeed, | they are equalled in auy of our public schools. In arithmetic and dictation the girls did better this year Ichan at their previous examination; gn geography and j history not so well. • The partial failure in the two | latter subjects would seem to be due to. the collective j system of teaching having been carried to an extreme, i a fault not easily avoided when so much work has to ibe got through m so short a >time. Experience has ishown, however, that there is not space enough in the ipreseutrschoolrobm ! t6 admit' of a^secbtid-teacher'bein^ 7 employed to advantage. 6. Hardy-street, Second Division : Miss Dement, Miss PercivaL— (B2.)— Last year I was able to say of the children in this school that "they read distinctly and iwrote neatly." This year, lam sorry to say, they do (neither. I found the utmost difficulty in following jthe almost inarticulate reading of the upper class, that Jof the lower class, comprising a third of those present, being an utter failure. I ascertained that a very small proportion of this class had passed through the Preparatory school, as they ought to have done, but that jthcy had been admitted, however ill-prepared, from putside. This irregularity, as might have been expected, has told disastrously on the school. The Writing, with few exceptions, was ill-formed and slovenly. In dictation and arithmetic the two upper classes did fairly. The school was very orderly. | Girls, Third Bivition : Miss Coilier. (84^)-^Chis school bjtS; N be;ne^tte"d! by the rempvaTof % boys? and only'nee<|s BJi,.aifeistant to! reaileirl Its orgafiisatiSu complete;- Tifcreinitlre'n are stilt'4tfmifaßly i rained, the first class being well prepared for promotion to the second division. Desks are much needed for the older scholars, who, at present, have to fmteS at a great disadvantage. } f •■"., j 8 and 9. Haven Road: Mr. J. L. Horizon*; Assistants, Miss Witney, Miss Burns— -(168.)— Although the teaching staff is admittedly too small to (jk> full justice to the numerous scholars who crowd this school, the results, as tested by examination, compjare very favorably with those obtained in schools ijiore amply supplied- with teachers, in proportion to their numbers. The reading was good throughout, the handwriting of more than average merit, and th,eL aH^d^etic so nnfforady "cdrr|es tb,Sf; the 1 whole of the 1 1101 jschiqlars in tite! Ist division! pjtsjsed in the several! gra%'syatfempted|--tWo-ttiird|r : s6ivhrg|' correctly double I the, number of puin;s/nej;ess£ryrt» secure a pass. - . The \ -classes also did-jwell inf history J and geography. • fei«PP@F.MMQId immoderately igood,l that of the lower division excellent. j 10 and 11. Hampden-street : Mr. Simley ; Assistant, Miss Percy. — (111.) — Although only ten of the 111 cjnklren present at my examination had reached their twelfth year, the scholars did well in almost every respect. The upper classes had improved in their leading, and produced good results in arithmetic, ,g -ammar, and dictation. Excellent discipline is maintained in the second division, but the numbers are 'almost too large to admit of then- boiug very effectively taught by a single assistant, very few having been fi|ted for .promotion to the upper school during the past twelvemonths. ■,•. .--".•, f.'\ .c\T\-r".. ' ; "'"" 112. St.'^Mqrtfs Boysrr^r.^icMds; Assistant Mr. Willulmsdn.— (lol.)— AituougTT "the numbers in attendance at this deservedly popular scliool are still in! excess of what the school will accommodate properly the boys passed a better examination this year than on aijy former occasion. Arithmetic, dictation, and geo•giiaphy were, perhaps, the best points, .Great pains had evidently bcW. taken .'with; the letter "h," with more success In the upper 'tlfati in the 'lower' classes. The room was decorated with well-executed maps and specimens of ornamental writing, the work of the boys • during the year. The discipline was as good as the j teaching. \ |13. St. Mary's Girls, First Division : Sisters of Okarity awl Assistants— Three Teachers.— (72.)— The teachers here have the faculty of retaining their scholars much longer than is usual in primary schools, thp average age of the girls present in the first class bejing fifteen, of those in the second class fourteen. The good examination passed by these classes in eveiy * branch shows that this advantage is made use of to • thp fullest extent. They read well, Avrite very neafclyj and spell correctly, the dictation of the second class being almost, that of the first class quite faultless Tip arithmetic is also of far more than average merit. Inj history, which last year was very defective, I found a marked improvement, the second class being able to write out from memory a tolerably full list of the loading events in the reign of George ,111. The redding of the tiird and fourth classes wiis occasionally > hujried and iudistiuci, the book used was ateo 100 hard for them,

14. Si. Mary's Girls, Second Division : Sister of Charily, and Assistant. — (60.) — This division has made great progress during the past year, especially in reading. None of the children failed to pass jnjfche j section^o^v arithmetic that-Wep fobSßipTSne average* numbeE\pjgsums worked j correctly 'fin /the first eUs's beiTpi-Sf^out of eigh% Tliej children m this cla^i whiejh c^r|rises nearlf-jhal^jof thb y division, afsp acquitted:' themselves creditably m geograpny aad g^tfficfaarj.ju.^jects taken tijpiqjiltQ rebently^a x-^-' i 15. Se. Mary's Girls, Third Division : Sister of Charity, and Monitor. — (48.) — This is little more than an infant school, more than half of those present being under seven years of age. The accommodation is altogether insufficient for the numbers admitted, many of the children being hei^4lie|rless6iis;iirHhe':op'"e!i;i air. Numerous applicants, however, I was given to understand, had been refused admission, because there was no room for them. The teaching, so far as I could judge of it, under the circumstances, was efficient, the discipline in this, as in the two higher divisions, belJgdl^SSr^|evif] /'T : ?r\ ' , ■ 16. Port MMiB-Mlan&imre. — (60.)— -^|s r ;more thahr? half of the chjy^en^ Up attend this school^.e, s under seven years of^^anii^nly 'eight have refecfeeJ their ninth year, the work is necessarily of an elementary kind. The scholars are fairly taught, but are not very orderly, the numbers being rather too large for a single teacher to control properly. 17. Toi-toi Valleg_,^Mss Sunley^— (SS^-j-Thi^ being intended as |s 'preparatory school; oijily, no^more^ than hall^hose prelect at my last visit over nine years ibid,^ The childVea are carefully feftght, and are keptfuji e2cellen|Kprder; : : : i The^readlgJ is aMible/ enoi%fe7i)Kmther monotonous. nTEe?luer scholars work the simpler rules of arithmetic pretty well, and are well grounded in the multiplication table. On the whole, however, I still think that the opening of small schools of this class in the town of Nelson is a mistake, and that it should be the aim of .the Board to concentrate the childrei^and teaching staff* in three; or, at most, four groups of schools, each so large that the boys and girls might be taught in separate establishments without loss of teaching power, or additional expense. Already a considerable step has been taken in this direction by confining tho Bridge-street schools to boys, and those in Hardy-street to girls, the number of divisions in each group of buildings rendering it unnecessary to place more than two classes under the < charge of each teacher, an arrangement by which the highest efficiency is secured at the least cost. If another girls' school were built at the mouth of Toitoi Valley, leaving Haven Road School to the boys in that part of the town, Hampden Street School only]: would remain to be dealt with, a matter that might" well be deferred until the population in its neighborhood increases considerably.