Patea High School.

Patea Mail, 25 March 1882, Page 3

Patea High School.

•-liortjy after the Education Act was brought into force in January 1878, the Patea school committee was urged to establish a district high school. Some pupils were then being privately taught by the master in the higher subjects, but the expense was heavy. In September 1878 the. first step was taken towards establishing a high school by asking adjacent school committees the number of pupils likely to be sent. In furnishing information to the Education Board the Patea committee estimated income from high school fees at £6O per annum on the basis of 20 pnpils at 15s each per quarter, A start was actually made with 21 pupils about the middle of August in 1879. It was soon manifest that some pnpils entered for the higher subjects were not sufficiently advanced in primary education to be capable of carrying on as high school pnpils, and the second quarter showed a falling off in number. Pupils have gradually diminished .until it was recently seriously proposed to discontinue this branch. The advantage of establishing a district high school was that additional teaching power, and of a higher standard, would be secured, than could be granted for the then number ot primary scholars. The average attendance at school in the quarter ending December 1878 was 91. At the examination in December 1879 there wore 124 pupils pn thp roll. In July 1880 there Were 157 jfnpils. In September the number had risen to 177, the average attendance for the quarter being 123-5, recorded as the highest attained. In the first quarter of 1881 there were 187 names on the school roll, and in January 1882 the number was 236. A further increase has taken place since the last annual meeting. Repeated applications for additional teaching power prior to the establishment of a district high school were met by the Education Board with the reply that the number of scholars did not entitle the school to any increase. With the high school branch, ..teaching power, and of a higher -standard, was granted as a matter of course. The continued steady increase ,of> primary scholars led the lately elected committee to apply for still further teaching power. As the number of scholars on the roll warranted such application, the request was readily acceded to by the Education Board. The School Inspector then made a special visit to Patea for the purpose of examining candidates for the office of pupil teacher; and appointments have been since made

The school is now fully, officered,, and the committee are desirous of further increasing the attendance. But for the establishment of the secondary branch it is questionable if Patea would yet be entitled either to its present staff of teachers or extent of school buildings. The falling off in high school pupils has been great, though the increase of primary scholars has exceeded expectations.

Supposing the district high school branch should be closed, through the attendance having fallen so far short of the estimate first given, the probabilities are that a reduction would be made either in the quality or the number of teachers. The school committee are anxious to avoid such a contingency by increasing both primary and secondary pupils. Parents neglecting to send to school children between the ages of seven and eleven years subject them—selves to the compulsory clauses of the Education Act. Por the secondary branch it is a matter of choice whether parents enter pupils or not. The fees in any case are moderate, while the advantages to Palea and district of retaining its present staff of efficient teachers is of general concern; and the special advantages to such parents as are soon likely to require to place children in the higher classes, should prompt them to step out a little earlier in support. An increase in both primary and secondary scholars would

enable the committee more forcibly to press on the attention of the Education Boar.l the necessity for enlarging the school buildings and retaining, the present staff of teachers.

It would be well if the general public would interest themselves in this important public institution, in order to ensure progress in educational matters in proportion to the rapidly increasing importance of the district.