PHYSICAL EDUCATION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 March 1943, Page 4

PHYSICAL EDUCATION

BIG DISPLAY IN PARK YESTERDAY BY DISTRICT SCHOOL PUPILS. ADDRESS BY THE MAYOR AND OTHERS. Brilliantly fine weather favoured the massed physical education display held by the primary school children of the district on the Masterton Park Oval yesterday afternoon. The beautiful park surroundings provided a picturesque background to the display, which was regarded as one of high merit. There was a large attendance of parents and friends. The Mayor, Mr T. Jordan, briefly addressed the gathering. He referred to observations he had made while on a visit in the South Island as a membei of the King George V Memorial Health Camp Trust. Mr Jordan said the number of undernourished children he saw in the camps was a disgrace to New Zealand. It reflected particularly on the parents of the children. Mr Jordan said he had asked if children had gone back to the camp again after a course and was told that they had. Mr Jordan said that provision could well be made for courses for the parents. He said he would be interested to know if any of the- children going into the health camps were Plunket babies. He had made inquiries and was awaiting the figures. Mr Jordan stressed the need of an investigation of the causes which resulted in such an increase in the number of people admitted to mental institutions. He said that the Government of the day in 1937 had passed a Bill which provided for the wellbeing and physical development of the young people. He was sorry that the intervention of war had interfered with the full implementation of the act.

Mr G. H. Stubbs, senior inspector of schools, thanked parents for the interest they had shown in the children’s work by their presence at the display. Mr P. A. Smithells, Dominion Supervisor of Physical Education, emphasised to parents the need of children having a well balanced, adequate diet and plenty of rest. Referring to diet he said that one had only to look at some types of school lunches which the children brought to school to know that they were wrong. With regard to rest, Mr Smithells said that one had only to ask school children what radio serials they listened to to know what time they went to bed. The display was the first one of its kind to be presented in New Zealand. Mr Smithells gave an excellent running commentary over a public address system of the interesting programme which followed. Miss H. Taylor, Area Organiser, directed activities. The children worked in four groups. By the skilful use of imagination they bent, turned, and twisted in many directions, giving the muscles full play. Simple skipping, hopping and jumping were the basis of the exercises. The children entered into the games, with evident enthusiasm and were obviously enjoying themselves. In the junior section forward somersaults, skipping, jumping over ropes, games with soft balls and tennis balls, hoop and wheelrelays were but a few of the many activities of the groups. As the exercises progressed they became more difficult. A group from the Te Ore Ore School presented a splendid display of Maori rhythms, welcome and war hakas, an action song, long and canoe pois, hand and stick games and jack stones. The performers wore flax mats. Five classes presented a Norwegian mountain dance and English country dances. A picked squad from the three main schools took part in a demonstration guided by Miss J. Sewell. The children showed a table of exercises, agility and group work. The display in general showed painstaking and careful tuition by all the organisers and teachers and was most creditable to all concerned. WORK AT COLLEGE POSSIBILITY OF EXTENSION. Mr Smithells visited the Wairarapa College during the week to see what could be done towards extending the primary school type of physical education to the secondary schools, and to inquire what additional staffing would be necessary to carry out the scheme. Mr Smithells demonstrated with a number of classes, and saw the gymnasium classes at work. Mr Smithells said that he intended to make a report in the near future, in which he would offer suggestions regarding the work. He mentioned, however, that his department realised that nothing radical could be done in the way of making changes until after the war. The work called for trained specialists and. men for that, job would not be available until after the war. However, it was intended to provide for a modified scheme in the meantime. FILM SCREENING WORK IN NEW ZEALAND AND ELSEWHERE. There was a representative gathering of parents, teachers and friends from all parts of the district at the Central School assembly hall, Masterton, last night, when films depicting the progress of physical education were screened by Mr P. A. Smithells, Superintendent of Physical Education in New Zealand. Mr Smithells said that the progress made in physical education in New Zealand in the past three years was very remarkable and showed that the children were of a high order of intelligence. The films dealt with the progress of the work in New Zealand and showed English squads at work. Three of the films showed progress made in the tuition of swimming strokes at the Auckland baths. Another film depicted physical education work being carried out at the Napier Intermediate School. LANSDOWNE SCHOOL SUCCESSFUL PARENTS’ DAY. A successful parents’ day was held at the Lansdowne School in furtherance of physical education week. The children carried out the various exercises in a manner which showed careful and painstaking coaching. Miss Taylor gave a very interesting explanation of the various movements and this was thoroughly appreciated by the sixty parents present. > The visitors were welcomed -by Mr

A. V. Faulknor, chairman of the school committee. Mr G. Stubbs, Senior Inspector of Schools, also spoke of the good work that was being done in the whole district for the benefit of the younger generation. “The place of the physical in all true education is something which begins with infancy, and goes on until the last day of life,” said the headmaster, Mr J. W. T. Jones. “Harmony and rhythm form the basis of the exercises. The conduct of the child during the exercises is a very important test of his character. The scope, place and conception of physical education have broadened and it has gradually assumed a meaning entirely different from that implied by the old term, ‘school drill.’ It is now recognised that an efficient system’.of education should encourage the concurrent development of a healthy physique, alert intelligence and sound character. These qualities are in a high degree mutually interdependent, and it is beyond question that without healthy conditions of body the development of the mental and moral faculties is seriously retarded. In a word, healthy physical growth is essential to intellectual growth.” '■