WEST END SCHOOL.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 March 1922, Page 6

WEST END SCHOOL.

MEETING OF THE COMMITTEE. CLASSES OVERCROWDED. The ordinary meeting of the West End School Committee was held last night.- Present: Messrs. J. S. S. Medley (chairman), W. H. Broome (secretary), J. Hawker, J. Hoskin, A. Coad, J. Brokenshire, and J. Garcia. Apologies for absence were received from Messrs. J. Lobb and T. Petty. The headmaster (Mr. D. P. Evans) reported that for the period ended March 2 thirty-six pupils had been admitted and 16 withdrawn, leaving a roll number of 618. The average attendance was 577.8, or 94.6 per cent. Notice had been received that Mr. S. King, of the Hawke’s Bay district, had been appointed third assistant and would take up his duties on April 1. Miss Sharpe, of Adelaide, had been appointed tenth assistant and took up her duties on March 1. She had received special training in Mountesorri methods, and should prove a decided acquisition to the staff. The results of the teachers’ examinations showed that all the school pupil teachers and probationers, witn the exception of one who did ot sit owing to ill-health, gained some measure of success. Misses Lindop and Pitcaithley completed their D, while the others gained a pass or a partial pass in two or more groups. Earlier in the year Miss Lindop gained a full pass and Miss Hodge a partial pass at the matriculation examination. Some of the class rooms were so overcrowded that for the future it would be necessary to decline admittance to new scholars until vacancies occurred. This would necessitate the keeping of a waiting list and would be the cause of refusing to admit pupils who reside in other districts where schools were located.

In amplifying the report the headmaster said that in standard three there were now 86 pupils and already one or two were on the waiting list. Standard two was also crowded. He had been in communication with the headmaster of the Central School regarding taking a pupil for that standard, and he was informed that there were already six waiting to be admited to that standard at the Central School.

It was resolved to draw the attention of the Education Board to the headmaster’s report as far as it concerned the school’s inability to admit pupils, and that the board he asked to bring the matter before the Minister of Education on his forthcoming visit to Taranaki.

It was decided to hold a picnic at an early date, either at Hawera or Ngaere. A committee consisting of Messrs. Medley, J. Hoskin, T. Petty, J. Garcia and D. P. Evans was appointed to make arrangements for the picnic, •which will be held on March 18.