GERALDINE SCHOOL COMMITTEE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1473, 27 February 1886, Page 2

GERALDINE SCHOOL COMMITTEE.

The monthly meeting was held hist evening. Present —Mr N. Dunlop (Chairman), and Messrs Geo. Ward, W. H, Lodge, A. Slierratt, R. S. Cook, T. Farrell, and W. R, Lawson. MINUTES. Tire minutes of last meeting were read and confirmed, chairman’s eeport. The Chairman stated that, with Mr A, Slierratt, he bad inspected the Master’s house and found the repairs, as reported, needed effecting, and they had decided to get the work done. They had also decided to sell, privately, the articles of clothing made by the children. They had come to the conclusion that, as a treat would not be self-supporting, it would not be advisable to hold one on the occasion of the distribution of the prizes. CORRESPONDENCE. The following correspondence was read and considered : From the Board of Education, forwarding the Inspector’s annual report on the school, and asking the Committee to comment on the same for the information of the Board.

From the same, stating that Miss McLean’s resignation as pupil teacher had been accepted, and asking the Committee to recommend a candidate for the position,—The Chairman stated that Mias Fanny Hawke and Miss E, Meredith had been recommended.

Frera the same, notifying that Miss Hawke’s appointment had been confirmed. —Messrs Ceok and Sherratt objected to the course which had been pursued by the Chairman of the Committee, and also by the Board, holding that applications should be advertised for. —The Chairman made an explanation, after which Mr Lodge proposed, Mr Farrell seconded, and it was carried—“ That the Chairman and Head Master’s action re the appointment of pupil teacher be approved of.” From the same, informing the Committee that the request for alterations to the windows in the infant room, and for a new desk had been granted by the Board; also, slating that the sura of £l2 8a had been paid to the credit of the Committee as incidentals for the quarter ending March 31 st. inspector’s report. The Chairman read the Inspector’s repoit as follows ; —' The school, in respect of the subjects necessary for standard passes, maintains a high character ; and whatever defects I may here point out and criticise, are in the main more than counterbalanced by conspicuous merits, on which it is not necessaray for me to dwell so minutely. There is either some imperfection in the teacliing or some imperfection in the classification of the upper infants, since their attainments are not as even as they should be ; but in all other respects the greatest credit is reflected on the management of the infant room, and the answering of Standard I. could hardly be surpassed. 1 am quite satisfied with the reduction in the number of the latter class, as the proportion of infants remains a fair one, and the early prunning means a more vigorous growth. The whole result in Standard 11. is not much more than fair. There are too many bad spellers; the slate writing is not up to a good average, though increased practice on paper has been attended with very successful results. In reading I should like to see a riper harvest to reward the evident efforts made to secure distinctness of enunciation, attention to stops, and the proper use of the aspirate.

The best subject in Standard 111. is the grammar. The functions of the words are discriminated with general accuracy, even the weakest pupils doing fairly, and the pieces of composition, if rather short, are well expressed. Arithmetic is particularly weak. The purely mechanical operations of subtraction and multiplication are inaccurate in 9 cases out of 10, and the only good work shown is in notation and in compound division. In this class I have been surprised to find an amount of purely rota knowledge in geography as distinguished from intelligent map-work. In history the method pursued in teaching is excellent, and wilh a little more care in assigning events to their proper places, the result would have been a record of brilliant success instead of one of mental confusion. The reading and writing are highly creditable to the skill and industry of the teacher. Standards IY., V., and VI. show the old fault of defective spelling, and the aritheraotic is not nearly as good all round as I could wish. It is, however, better in Standard YI. than last year, and in V. there are at least three good papers, in Standard IV. there is a general inaccuracy in working out the “bills,” With reading, writing, grammar, and history, on the other hand, Mr Brskine has, in Standard IV., produced good resells. The parsing is mainly accurate and muon fuller than is required, and the facts ih history are well-known and tersely expressed. Geography has good maps, fair general knowledge, and very poor answering on Australia. Standards V. and VI., in the hands of Mr Hughes, are sure to be well taught on the whole. Beyond the reference to spelling and arithmetic already made, I have only to say that the knowledge, as far as it goes, is remarkably accurate, but in many cases not full enough to satisfy the highest expectations, and that Standard VI. grammar must be singled out as deserving an especial award of prats' 5 . With regard to the “extra subjects” in the school, whatever has been done has been done well, but the amount is hardly sufficient. The regulations require that Standard IV. shall share in the scientific instruction, and that the use of i drawing books shall be familiar to the pupils as low, at least, in the school as Standard 111. W. F. Anderson, Inspector. The following particulars are taken from the schedule accompanying the report Teaching Staff ; Head Master, Mr T, Hughes; Head Mistress, Miss Hamilton ; pupil teachers, A v Erskine, J. Kallaugher, H. Smith, and Mita M. McLean. Number of r/aldren enrolled ; Boys, 116; girls, Up; total, 226. Above Standards, 3 ; i reparing for Standards, 149; below StXdards, 74. Standard Vlq presented 6, passed 5 ; Standard V., presented .9, passed 6 ; Standard Rs,, presented 26, passed 16 ; ( Standard IM., presented 37, passed 24 ; I standard l§. , presented 43, passed 80 j I

Standard 1., presented 28 ; passed 28 ; total presented 149, absent 10 ; passed 109, failed 30 ; percentage of passes on roll number 48.2, percentage of passes on number examined in Standards 78.4. Classification after examination : Above Standards 8, preparing for Standard YI. 7, preparing for Standard Y. 19, preparing for Standard IY. 34, preparing for Standaid 111. 43, preparing for Standard 11. 41, preparing fwr Standard 1. 38 f below Standards 36, total 226, Observations—Extra Subjects; Drawing, in books, confined to Standards V. and VI. Object lessons ; Good selections except in Standard 111., in which subjects suit Standard 11. better ; science, confined to Standards Y. and YI.; first 50 pages Chemistry Primer answering generally full and accurate, and as good as couliL bo expected ; drill good, but not equal I

last year’s in precision of sewing of the usual character ; repetition generally very we'l done, but group of pieces required in each class; singing maintains a very satisfactory character, so far as practice is concerned. Order and discipline excellent; records and general condition satisfactory. After the report had been discussed, Mr Cook moved, Mr Lodge seconded, and it was carried—‘‘That the Inspector’s report on the school be accepted by the Committee with satisfaction.” NOMINATION OP MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OP EDUCATION. Mr Cook moved, Mr Slierratt seconded, and it was carried—“ That this Committee record their vote in favor of the Rev. Geo. Barclay and Messrs S. W, Goldsmith and John Jackson to fill the ordinary vacancies on the Board.” Mr Cook proposed, Mr Lodge seconded, and it was carried That this Committee also vote for the Rev. Jasper Smythe to fill the extraordinary vacancy caused by the resignation of Mr G. G, Russell.” VISITORS* REPORT. Mr Farrell repotted, on behalf of the Visiting Committee, that they had visited the school on that day, and found it in a satisfactory condition. VISITORS. The Chairman and Messrs Cook and Sherratt were appointed visitors for the ensuing month. ACCOUNTS. An account from Messrs Scott Bros., of Christchurch, for £2 7s 2d for the new bell was presented and passed for payment, the Chairman to forward the voucher to the Board for a refund of the amount. The meeting then terminated.