AUCKLAND SCHOOLS

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 16, 9 April 1927, Page 7

AUCKLAND SCHOOLS

COMMITTEE REPORTS The following school committees’ reports reviewing the year’s work have been received in addition to those published yesterday. BIRKENHEAD The Birkenhead School Committee’s report states the school attendance has seriously affected by sickness, Particularly in July, when 25 per cent. 1 the children were absent. The „ v ®rage number on the roll was 359 the average attendance 309 for the “ e year. The inspectors who visited

the school last year drew attention in their report to the need of a playing area, and the committee felt keen regret that a school should be built on a site practically useless as a playground. A drawing, showing the amount of excavations and filling that would be necessary to form a football ground at the lower side of the school, was prepared by the borough engineer, Mr. Frank Finch, who estimated the cost at from £ 1,500 to £1,600. As a result, the scheme for the provision of a playing area had to be abandoned. BRIXTON ROAD Brixton Road School was opened on April 6, 1926, under the jurisdiction of the Edendale Committee. The capacity of the school was from 360 to 400 scholars. However, only 156 children were enrolled. After the position had been placed before the Education Board instructions were issued by the board to pupils within a prescribed area to transfer to Brixton Road, and this resulted in the number on the roll being increased to 444. Of 19 scholars who sat for the Standard VI. examinations 16 obtained proficiency. These passes were the result of the untiring and painstaking efforts of Mr. N. F. Shaw, to whom credit was also due for the establishment of a school garden, which had had a most successful first season. EDENDALE The work of the Edendale School has been very efficient during the past year. Practically all the children in Standard VI. passed on to the Kowhai Junior High School. The roll number at the end of last year was 758, the leverage attendance for 1926 being 690. The present roll number was over 700 and the average attendance for the first quarter of the current year was 647. In sports the basketball teams won all their games against Mount Albert and Mount Eden. The playgrounds had been kept in good order, a great improvement being the construction of a wall along the south side of the boys’ playground to serve as a breakwind. ROYAL OAK “A very healthy - state of affairs,” says the Royal Oak School Committee’s annual report in reviewing last year’s work. The school roll continues to increase rapidly, and very soon more accommodation will be necessary. By means of bazaars and entertainments £l5B was collected, most of the amount carrying a subsidv from the Education Department. The sum of £7B had been earmarked for the swimming baths. Money was also allotted for a dental clinic, but so far the Minister of Health had not » r iven his permission fox* the work to proceed. Next year it is proposed to continue levelling and asphalting the playgrounds and to construct the swimming baths.