WANGANUI EDUCATION BOARD.

Patea Mail, Volume V, Issue 423, 7 May 1879, Page 2

WANGANUI EDUCATION BOARD.

The first annual report of the above Board, as presented to the Minister of Education, has just come to hand, for which we are indebted to the kindnnss of the Inspector of Schools, R. Foulis, Esq. The Chairman reported that when the Board came into office, it found 47 schools in existence, 40 of which were in operation, and 7 closed for want of teachers. At the present time there are 48 schools under the Board, of which

47 are open. The average attendance when the Board took office was 1420, and the year closed with a working average of 2141, being an increase of a little over 50 per cent., which is attributed to the activity and interest displayed by the different School Committees, and also the bringing into operation, in many cases, the compulsory clauses of the Act. The report then gives a review of what has been done during the year in the way of erection of new schools, &c. inspector’s report. The Inspector reported as follows respecting the examination of schools within the Patea County :—■ NORMANBY. September 28th, 1878. Win, A. McUtchan, 5 months in charge. On the Roll, 41. Present, 36. Considering the short time Mr McUtchan had been in charge,, tin? School, upon the whole, made a fair appearance. Presented in Standard 1., 8; 7 succeeded. In Standard 11., 9; 8 passed. In Standard 111., 3; all succeeded. Percentage of passes in the lower Standards, 88.

Presented in Standard IY., 2; and 2 in Standard V. They all failed. Had not been accustomed to paper work, and shewed great deficiency in all the subjects. The children are intelligent, and, under an active and energetic teacher, the School will soon take a good position among the schools of Patea. Mr McCutchan having resigned, Mr Hill has been appointed Teacher, and will shortly enter on the duties of the office HAWERA. September 27th. On my arrival I found that the teacher, Mr Thomson had left on the 19th for Wanganui, on his way to take charge of the Kaitoke School, to which he had been appointed. Unfortunately, before leaving, ho omitted to hand the Chairman a properly classified list of the children according to the different Standards, in which they were to be examined, and in consequence the examination schedules were not filled up against the day of my call. The Chairman, assisted by several members of committee, made tbs best classification

which, in their judgment, and under the circumstances, could be made. As the examination went on, I could not fail to discover that an unintentional error had been made, in placing children in Standards, which were beyond their attainments. On casting up the results of the examination, this was clearly apparent. Under such unusual circumstances, I suggested that a supplementary examination should be held, which was agreed to, so 1 again visited the school, and examined the children on 16th December, with the following result: Mr Alexr. Mail* in charge 2 months; assistant, Miss Phillips. On the Roll, 91; present, 85.

Presented in Standard 1., 16; all passed. In Standard 11., 12; all passed. In Standard 111., 9 ; 8 passed. Percentage of passes in three lower standards, 97. Presented in Standard IV., 6; passed, 2. In Standard V., 3 ; passed 3. Percentage of passes in three higher standards, 55.

The results were good, and shewed that, wherever proper classification had been attedded to, the percentage of passes would be correspondingly high. Dictation and Geography of Standard 11., weak; Dictation, Grammar, and Geography of Standard 111., moderate. Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, of Standard 11. and 111., highly satisfactory. The weak points in the three higher standards were Mental Arithmetic, Geography and History. Order and discipline, good. Under the present able management, this school is bound at no remote day to take a foremost place among the schools of the District. The school bore evident marks of having been neglected by the late teacher.

MANUTAHI.

September 30th,

Mr C. W. Lee in charge 17 months On the Roll, 22 ; present, 22.

Presented in Standard L, 8 ; in Standard 11., 5 ; in Standard IV., 1; and in Standard V., 1. They all passed most creditably. The seven children, who were not scheduled, read very well. The School in all respects made an excellent appearance, and reflected great credit on Mr Lee for the manner in which he had conducted it.

Mr Lee had been promoted to be master of the Wangaehu School, in which he will have more scope for his teaching powers, and a wider field of usefulness. KAKARAMEA. December 13th. Mr R, T. Brown in charge 2 years and 10 months. Number on books, 48; present, 38.

Three candidates were presented for the Scholars’ Certificate examination. The eldest competitor was 15 years of age, and the youngest 12 years. Considering the youthfulness of the aspirants, X did not trame so stiff a set of papers for them as I had framed for the candidates of the Carlyle School. Otherwise, the same papers would have been submitted.

On revising their written papers, I was pleased to find that Ada Hawken headed the list with 153 and five-sixths, and that Alexander Williamson was a good second with 140 and five-sixths, out of an obtainable 200. The third candidate barely pulled through. The result was alike creditable to Mr Brown, the master, and to the youtful competitors ; for it showed that good sound work had been done during the year.

Regarding the Standard results, -1 cannot speak so favorably. Out of five children who were put forward in Standard IV., one obtained the minimum mark; but the average of the four, who failed, was only 58 out of a possible 200. This serious failure shewed that the children had been placed in a Standard too advanced for them. And the same mistake in classification was made in Standards 11., 111., V., and VI.

Two scholars were presented in Standard V., and one in Standard VI. None ot them succeeded. All showed marked deficiencies. The deficiency extended to all the subjects. Eleven were presented in Standard 111., seven of whom failed. They were deficient in more than three subjects. Nine were presented in Standard 1., 8 of whom passed fairly well. The percentage of passes in the three superior Standards, 14; and in the inferior, 60. I invariably found when serious failures occurred in any school, that they were the result of injudicious classification, and did not arise from any want of ability on the part of the children to pass. Handwriting, very creditable; reading and recitation, moderate; order and dicipline, weak; school management, imperfect. Military drill, very satisfactory ; and I trust it will be soon introduced into all the in-door movements. This school, though not conducted on any regular system, seemed to be exerting good influence in Kakaramea. CARLYLE. December 11th and 12tix. Mr W. H. Dyer—in charge 3 years and 7 months; Miss Williams, assistant; number on the books, 114 ; present, 105. This is a large and very important school. It is well appointed, satisfactorily officered, efficiently conducted, and unsurpassed by any school in the District. The outcome of the examination for scholars’ certificate went to prove, that qualitatively, and quantitatively, the teaching had been oi a superior order. Five candidates worked the papers, and on examination of them I was very much pleased to find that all had succeeded in gaining a certificate. Kate Williams topped the list with a score of IGO§, and the candidate who stood lowest scored 116, out of an obtainable 200. In the extra subjects three candidates did remarkably wtdl in Algebra, and two moderately in Latin. The science paper sot was not attempted, the candidates excusing themselves on the ground that they had had enough of subjects. The master was of the same opinion. Irrespectively altogether of the unexpected turn in some of the Standard results, the school, I think, has fairly made out its claims to be constituted into a District High School; because it has been clearly demonstrated that higher education is appreciated by the settlers, and that education of a superior kind can be imparted. This has been sufficiently proved by the highly satisfactory results of the certificate examination, which was a very testing one.

With two exceptions the outcome of Standard I. was excellent; for there was neither marked deficiency, nor serious failure, in more than one subject. Twenty-three passed most satisfactorily, and only two failed. The passes in Standard 11. were unaccountably disappointing ; for, out of 19 children presented no fewer than seven were either very deficient, or failed in more than three subjects—the number of subjects in which I required that they should not fail in order to their passing. In Standard 111. there was a similarly unsatisfactory result; for five out of the eleven presented, showed marked deficiency in more than three subjects. Six only pulled through. The percentage of passes in the lower standards was nearly 71 ; and in the higher, 40. In Standard IV. the weak points were Geography and Arithmetic. Out of the four candidates presented one only succeeded .

The written papers of the competitors of the fifth standard were very satisfactory, only two of the six put forward shewing weakness in more than two subjects. Of the five presented in Standard VI. four showed marked deficiency in Arithmetic, obtaining- only a, fourth of the 40 marks obtainable. All the candidates manifested more or loss deficiency in each subject. One barely pulled through. The reading throughout was not up to the' mark. There was a want of deliberate, clear, and firm utterance, and of correct emphasizing, and suitable modulation of the voice ; besides, the manner of reading did not betray intelligence.

WHENUAKURA

December 10th,

Mr W. L. Weiss —in charge 18 months. On the Roll, 36; present, 27. The reading anti recitation by the pupils of the First Standard have not been surpassed by children at the same stage in any school I have yet examined. The style of reading, excellent. Ten were presented, and succeeded creditably. In the Third Standard, the children were deficient in arithmetic, grammar, dictation, and geography. Out of seven presented, five absolutely failed. This was the more unsatisfactory, because the questions set were very simple, and should have been answered correctly. Neither the reading, nor the recitation was so good as in Standard I. Two sat for Standard IY., but only one succeeded.

Percentage of passes in the inferior Standards, 70; and in the superior, 50. Order and discipline, fair; school management and method, weak; handwriting, very fair; verbal knowledge, improvable. I was surprised that singing had not been taught so systematically as it ought

to have been, for the master is very competent to teach it. The school is rather lifeless, which in all probability is partly owing to the smallness of the numbers. The teacher possesses considerable tact and ability.

(To be continued.)