EDUCATION IN TAUPO

Taupo Times, Volume II, Issue 99, 11 December 1953, Page 4

EDUCATION IN TAUPO

THE growth of the Taupo School, for some time a District High School, has been most marked dur•ing the past few years, and is emphasised by the fact that it now has a staff of fifteen teachers and a roll number of nearly four hundred and fifty pupils. A prostectus now issued for the coming year by the Secondary Department contains much that will interest parents of Taupo children who may be going on to secondary school next year., The Prospectus explains that the School now offers three courses for 1 secondary pupils, the General Course, the Commercial Course and the Home Life or Industrial Course. The aim is to provide a full and suitable course for every child. All courses are so arranged that any child with the inclination and ability may gain his or her School Certificate whatever the course followed. This allows each child greater freedom to change his or her choice of career. The School Certificate examination is the first step toward University Entrance and higher examinations and courses. It is necessary for entrance to Teachers' Training College, School Dental Nursing, and of great help in many Public Service professions. To qualify fully in certain trades a boy must serve a certain time as an apprentice. For entrance to the electrical industry in all branches, carpentry and joinery, motor engineering, plumbing, printing, mechanical engineering, and sheet metal working, at least two years secondary education is required. And a boy who has a pass i£ the School Certificate examination is credited with 1000 hours toward an apprenticeship. So that if an ordinary apprenticeship is five years a boy with School Certificate has to serve only four and a half years. It should be noted that the School Certificate course is usually a four year one, and only the very good academic child can reasonably expect to pass the examina-

tion at the end of three years. Four or five years post-primary study is usually required to prepare for the University Entrance Examination. While the School is well able to prepare children for this examination, it believes that it is in the best interests of such children for them to attend an "accrediting" school (such as the Rotorua High School) after they have obtained their School Certificate. The General, or Professional, Course prepares students to pass the School Certificate examination, and later the University Entrance, with a view to entering such professions as Law, Science, Medicine, Teaching and so on. This course should be taken only by children prepared to stay at least three years and to study diligently the full course. The Commercial Course,' in addition to offering a sound general educational background, provides training in book-keeping and commercial practice for those wishing to enter the commercial world in any of its phases. The Home Life Course, for girls, provides a cultural and practical education with a direct bearing on women's work in the home and industry. Girls in this course, besides being well prepared for home life, are able to take up Nursing, Dressmaking, Millinery, Saies Work and Cookery Teaching. 1 The Industrial Course, for boys, includes English, Social Studies, Biology, Woodwork and Commercial Practice, and will be further extended in scope when the School's Manual and Technical Block is completed. From the foregoing, Taupo parents will realise that the educational disadvantages once felt by reason of Taupo's distance from the larger centres are no longer operating today. They. should acquaint themselves fully with the service provided by the Taupo Drstrict High School and its enthusiastic staff.