“THE POSTMAN”

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 December 1939, Page 10

“THE POSTMAN”

CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOL ANNUAL MAGAZINE. RECORD OF EXPANDING ACHIEVEMENT. It is always a pleasure to see “The Postman," the annual magazine of the Correspondence School, because it gives, from year to year, an inspiriting account of helpful, highly organised and capable educational endeavour on behalf primarily of those young New Zealanders who are growing up in the back-blocks, in pioneer conditions. Not the least interesting part of the story of the happily expanding life of the Correspondence School is told in letters, notes, essays and verses contributed in abundant variety by pupils of the school, from the “primers” upward. Seme of the paintings and drawings by pupils, examples of which are reproduced, set a very high standard. Pen and ink drawings executed with delicate skill, are notable and outstanding. Another illustration to command attention is a picture of excellent specimens of handcraft in metal, basketware and other materials, the work of invalid pupils. As a whole, the illustrations, including photos from many parts of the Dominion of happy children,- their pets, homes and surroundings. add greatly to the interest and value of the magazine. As the president of the Correspondence School Parents’ Association, Mr S. H. Roberts, of Shannon, points out in a foreword to “The Postman," it -fs right to bear in mind in mis centennial year that there is still a vast amount, of pioneering work being carried on in New Zealand and that: —“The spirit of 1840 still lives in .1939 in remote hills and valleys, where thousands of settlers and their wives and families are devoting their lives to the task of bringing the back country into useful and profitable production in face of almost insuperable difficulties." It is one of the great difficulties and deprivations of life in outlying areas that children cannot attend ordinary schools, but the splendid work of the Correspondence School goes a long way towards overcoming this disability. Most people bj- this time know something of the remarkable service in which the benefits of methodical educational instruction and supervision are made available, through the post, to children some of whom live and thrive in the loneliest and most remote parts of the Dominion.

Rendering this great and valuable service, the Correspondence School has expanded notably both in roll numbers and in the range of its activities. The headmaster, Dr. A. G. Butchers, M.A.. states in his latest annual report that: "The Correspondence School was established in February, 1922. to meet the needs of children unable to attend school. The Secondary Department was established in February, 1929. The enrolment at the end of the second term, 1939, was: Primary, 1,705 (including 561 in primer classes); secondary. .1,108; total, 2,813." The Correspondence School caters not only lor pupils living in remote areas, but for those labouring under the handicap of physical disability. The number of pupils in the last-mention-ed category is 286. In addition, the number of part-time students i.e., students in employment—is 347, andthere are 302 adult students. These last include fathers taking agricultural courses, and mothers courses in dressmaking and housecraft. Then again the Correspondence School is lending a helping hand to some of the smaller post-primary schools. It is supplying assignments and correction service to thirteen district high schools and two evening technical schools in subjects not available locally. The same standards are maintained in the various grades of the Correspondence School as ; n the regular schools. In the Secondary Department a great many of the pupils are taking courses of a practical and non-acade-mic character. Courses have lately been developed in Agriculture, Woodwork, Trade Drawing and Building Construction, Commercial Subjects (book-keeping, shorthand, typewriting), Needlework and Dressmaking. Art and Commercial Art, Housecraft and Handcraft. At the same time, academic courses are not neglected. The headmaster records that “no fewer than 246 pupils achieved successes in the various public examinations and/ or the award of the various school certificates during the year. Reports obtained from other schools show that former Correspondence School pupils are well up to the standard in the various classes in the schools now attended. The names of our ex-pupils are prominent in the published lists of the University Entrance Examination and Higher Leaving Certificate results."

The most is being made, too, of opportunities, limited as yet, of establishing personal contact between teachers and pupils of the Correspondence School. In the first and third terms of this year, three teachers went on circuit, visiting the homes of pupils in various districts. A vacation school, held at New Plymouth in May last, was attended by 156 pupils. Weekly broadcast lessons are given also from Station 2YA.