CORRESPONDENCE MAIL SCHOOL CAMP

Opotiki News, Volume I, Issue 35, 23 May 1938, Page 4

CORRESPONDENCE MAIL SCHOOL CAMP

PLAN NOT GIVEN UP STATE OFFICER’S VIEW • . ' Plans for the concentration of Correspondence School pupil’s in a camp for special intensive instruction in cultural subjects, and for social 'contact have not been abandoned by the officers of the Education Department, according to a, statement made by Dr. A. E. Eieklho'use in Napier. The project merely has been postponed, according to his information, though whether Gisborne will continue as the prospective location of tlie first camp is not certain. Criticism of the selection of Gisborne as the sit© of the camp, in the first place, had been offered from some quarters, said Dr Fieldhousc, a member of the teaching staff of the Correspondence School. Those who criticised, however, probably were unaware of the reasons' which influenced the selection of Gisborne. A large percentage off the isolated scholars for whom the school provides tuition by post lived in Poverty Bay and along the East Coast, and of 1 the 185, children whose parents had undertaken to send them to the school camp, 170 were from this district. Disappointment to Director. It had been a severe disappointment to the director of the Correspondence School, and also to the staff, when the plans for the assembly this month had toi be abandoned, added Dr Fieldhousc, who indicated that extensive preparations had been made for accommodating the pupils, and that educational films and an array of musical equipment had been sent to Gisborne for use during the camp. The flood experienced late in April, with the consequent damage to highways, left no choice but to abandon the plan in the meantime, but there was no intention, so far as he knew, of dropping altogether the proposals for organising periodical camps in selected centres. Included in the arrangements for the projected Gisborne and school had been visits of 17 lecturers, two medical officers, and a dental surgeon, all of whom would have given their full time to instruction and the organisation of activities with an educational bcackground.