TEMUKA SCHOOL COMMITTEE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1738, 17 May 1888, Page 3

TEMUKA SCHOOL COMMITTEE.

! . The monthly meeting ®f the Temuks Sdbool Committee was held on Tuesday evening. Present—Messrs J. Ti M. Hay'horst (Chairman), E. Brown, J v Blytb, f. Winning, A. M. Clark, K. F, Gray, l > aid A. B. Allan. . . The minntes of the last meeting were Tend and confirmed. COBKESPONDEN OK. Correspondence was read : From the Board of Education, stating that Mr J. P. Kalaugher had been ’ appointed fourth teacher, in accordance with the recommendation of the Committee. ■ . . From the same, stating that they bad accepted the resignation of Master W, Ackroyd as pupil teacher, in accordance . with the Oqmmittee’a recommendation, as ■, % special case, but stating that there was no in the regulations whereby a pupil teacher, • who has made an. agreement to serve the Board for four years, ; iaallowed to resign on giving 090 month’s notice ; also requesting the Committee to • nominate a suitable person .'for the vacant todaltidni: tbodjfh, as the present attendance was only 279, the Board would, reserve to Itself the right of postponing the appointment until the average attendance . improved. , . \ From the .same,,, stating that the incidentals for the June; quarter, amounting to £ll 7s 6d, bad been paid in to ths credit of the Committee*/, . From the same, forwarding scale of pupil teachers’ salaries. From the same, forwarding regulations for.tbo payment and disbursement; of the scbnbi fnnd for incidental expenses ; pew :gmli' .' Under thebe'regulations £45 10s ■ ! par MBom are allowed to the school for ■ .. ■; , v- ; .. 4iF!dm‘' , tha;ssm#, forwarding. scale of Jind. salaries for schools with average 'h'-attafedanee of 25 and upwards. Under Uuateale Tom nka is entitled with the ; pretant attendance to four teachers and ■ ■ four pupil teachers. ' From the same, forwarding summary of ?. attendance returns for the quarter ending . 31st March, 1888. The average attendance at the Temuka school was shown to have been 279. From the Hoad Master, drawing attention to an accident to, the school b«il, and requesting that it Should be repaired.— The'Chairman said that as it seemed an . urgent case he had the same repaired and >• .replaced. The bell had to be sent to a '- Wecksmith for repairs. \ ' MASTERS REEORT:

i. •. The Bead Master’s repert for the month - wasTiad as follows gut,—-I have the honor to. submit the following report fe'r the month of April. .Avetage roll—Boye 385.3, girls 169, total 344.3. Average attendance-Boys I4o.B,giiie ,132.7, tetal 273. Highest Attendance—Boys 147, girls 137, total 284. Daring the past mouth the sttendanc's has been steadily lower than pre- - vioualy, and during the foggy wet tier of the'.present has been very bad indeed. Yesterday we had only 198 boys and girls: The fence between the boys’ and the girls’ playground needs a little repairing, one or • two-of the shingles having come s way. We’require for school purposes :—l.dozen, boxes slate pencils, 2 gross drawing ■ pencils, 6 boxes chalk, 1000 stationery fee form*, 1 dozen boxes nibs. I enclose £2 ’.dvtoisg further amount of stationery - fees received for current quarterl am, etc., W. Bbtars. The Secretary was authorised to procure the school requisites applied for. TWT. TUPIL XKACHEItSHIP. < . The Head Master wrote, drawing the ; Attention of the Committee to the -necessity of a pupil teacher being . appointed at Oace in the room of Master ; Aekroyd, rssigned; he enclosed copy of V' import made te the Board for the March quarter, showing .that the atteadsncs, folly entitled the school to the ' services of a fourth pupil teacher, s* A letter wm read from Mias Mary r- ‘ applying for the position. Ibis was the only application. •, Proposed by Mr E. Brown,, seconded by T 4 fir Blyth, and carried—That Mils Wills k; be recommended to the Bosrd ef EducaBon ior the vacant pupil teachership, and ’ thatishe be asked to commence her duties KM fin the retirement of Master Aekroyd, ' “ subiset to her appointment by ths Board. , . , VISITORS. ’ The Chairman, the visitor for the past . month, drew the attention of the Com- - mlttee to the wet state of the floor of the bwatbry, which be considered was caused -iy the children slopping the water out . of c ;, the basins, and said be thought it might be remedied by catling a shallow drain in ifc* concrete floor, and thus running the >i- Mr Brown said when he was a member ‘ - of the old Committee he had found thal the pipe that runs'.nnder the floor was leaking badly, and he thought that wae " the cause. The old Committee would - have had the work done had. not theii tern of office almost expired.

It was generally thought that _ something shoulchbe done at ones, anil it was decided that the visitor for the month end the secretary should have the necessary repairs made. The Chairman also drear attention to the fact that several palings had been removed from.the fence dividing the boys’ frpm the girls' playground, and the visitor «nd the secretary were authorised to arrange with the janitor for their replaceraent. Mr E. Brown was appointed visitor for the month. 1 ATTENDANCE. The Chairman drew the attention of the Committee to the clause in the MasterV report referring to the, falling attendance, and said it had been suggested t 6 him that the attendance might be considerably increased.

Mr Winning thought it would be wise to invite the teachers to confer with the Committee on the matter of the standards. It seemed to him, from the tone of several of the speakers et the annual meeting of householders, that there was great dissatisfaction with the result of the last examination, and he thought it would be well to invite the teachers to meet the Committee and discuss the report. If any fault it would then b« se'th were.it. was. He thought, if possible, the Committee should find out what: the cause of the complaint was. ! The Chairman said that the first answsr would bo that the school had not sufficient teachers. The Head Master had plated to him th»t the staff was not sufficient.

Mr Allan said he,'supposed the school hid the same'staff in proportion to the number of pupils as other schools. The Chairman said it had, but it was still a question whether the staff pllowbd by the Board was sufficient.

Mr Winning went on to,speak about the arrangement of the staff. The Chairman pointed oat that the Head Master appointed any tiachar to any standard be pleased-, and could change tbs taachara'.*t‘»ny lime. • •

Mr 'Winning wished to know if a boy or girl would be put forward to pass a standard without regard to attendance. In Scotland a child within two miles of a School must, make 200 attendances in the year, and if beyond two miles 160. If> they did , not make this , number they could not bo brought forward for examination. It was stated that a child must be on the roll for three months, and attend not less than half time, or he could not pass. Members generally thought the irregular attendance of some of the scholars was the principal cause of the unsatisfactory examinations.

The Chairman said if members wished Mr Bryars could be invited to attend the next meetingof the Committee. It was generally Sjgreed that neither that nor a conference of teachers would doi any g00d... The teachers knew of the decision arrived at by ths Board regarding a reorganisation of the staff if bsttar results were net attained, and were doing their best. * -After some further discussion it was unanimously resolved —“That the compulsory clauses of the Education Act be brought into force.” ; It was also decided that the Head Master be requested to prepare a list of the irregular attendants,; and that the same be handed to ths police for them to make enquiries as to the reason of the absence of such children ; a report to be presented to next meeting.' A vote of thanks to the Chairman terminated ths meeting.