GERALDINE FLAT SCHOOL COMMITTEE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1500, 1 May 1886, Page 3

GERALDINE FLAT SCHOOL COMMITTEE.

A special meeting of the Geraldine Flat School Committee was held oa Tuesday, the 21st iast, in the schoolroom, for the purpose of voting feu member of the Board of Education and other business. Present—Messrs Shaw (Chairman), Wilkinson and South, The minutes of last meeting were read and confirmed, After reading the correspondence, it was resolved to take no action regarding the election of a member of the Board. The master’s lust report was read and approved of. The Committee's report on fho annual examination, which had been deferred from last meeting owing to the small attendance, then came on for discussion. As this was likely to be the last meefng of the Committee before the annual election, the report wan considered with the Inspector’s remarks aqd deemed satisfactory. It wae remarked that the master, who was new to the system, ought to have had the guidance of the previous report, which had mysteriously disappeared ; but the percentage of passesto the roll number, compared favorably with other schools. It was then proposed and seconded that the Inspector's remarks be published. The following are the remarks .—Number on roll, 54 > presented, 53 i In standards, 44, bsmg 81.5 per oent. Passed 26, being 53 8 pep cent on number examined in standards, and 4fi-3 on the roll number of school. Remarks j The Inspector rt-gretted that 'he number of passes was not greater, an I that the purely passswork waa in BO many cases below whftt an Inspector could bo fully satisfied with, for there were evidences of intelligent teaching not usually found in our schools, and the amount of attention given to ext'u subjects exceeded fee | Board’s ri-q.itn-rr.enis, The v-oy largo j proportion ot child'eu presoiiled in I standards was worthy of note, and the

proportion of passes in respect of the roll number would compare favorably with th-' ike proportion in o'her schools which »t fi'-st Right appeared to have D a much helper examination. He «as unable to say the school bid b-en well taught ; there was too much wn-.k-ness in subjects that arc the backbone of a primary school. Attention was called in his last report to writing end spelling, in neither of which was there a striking im« provemont. In Standard I, writing was in advance of the requirements, and in Standard II slate writing was good. Though reading was not of particularly high quality generally, he had been much gratified to'find at the top of the school a much more intelligent comprehension of the meaning of passages than is usually the case. Standard VI is in most respects a very creditable and highly intelligent class; in Standard V two of the three pupils make very fair answering, but in Standards IV and 111 he was unable to point out a subject of any merit. The non-pass subjects deserved special mention, since an ambitious effort had been made to cover nearly the whole of the Government syllabus in this respect. Sawing occupied more than the usual time, and showed excellent results. Drill and ’recitation had evidently received their full amount of attention, and some attempt bad been made to secure a knowledge of the subject matter of the reading lesson. The teaching of both science and domestic economy to the boys and girls respectively of the higher cutsses, was, he thought, more than could be successfully attempted in a school with only a teacher and a pupil teacher „n the staff, considering the great demands made on the teacher’s lime by other subjects. The following is taken from the master’s report of 26th February, 1886; Attendance —At the date of (he inspection there were 53 present out of 54- on the roll, though some of these had seldom been present for the six months going be foie. Some of the children lately attending this school from the Hilton district have been influenced to return to their own school. Nearly all of these passed w ell «t the late examination. A number of young ones are shortly to be admitted. Staff—The pupil teacher and mistress continue to work well, and are quite satisfactory in their duties. The former is up in his lessons, and the latter had an excellent report for sewing. The scholarship holder, T. McShane, made an extremely good pass in btandard VI. Her term will shortly be up, and she does not intend to stand examination for the renewal of the same as recommended by ihe Inspector. The schoolhouso and grounds are in good order except that the door and window fastenings of school require repairing. Report —I am glad that the Inspector’s remarks somewhat make amends for the moderate percentage of passes. He shows that reading and writing, the backbone of a primary school, have not had the repairs recommended in the previous report, owing to the excess of sewing time, the large proportion of time given to extra subjects, and the areat attention given to improving the intelligence of the children, to drill, and recitation. He also shows that the percentage is enhanced by in ttie directions he recommended, that it compares favorably with that of other schools which ar first sight appear to have passed a much better examination, and that too much was ambitiously attempted for the staff and time at command. —I am, - to.—Alexander Pbnnet, The Easter holidays were then fixed from Thursday to Wednesday and the meeting terminated.