MASTERTON PUBLIC SCHOOL.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 3, Issue 957, 23 December 1881, Page 2

MASTERTON PUBLIC SCHOOL.

.;:■• PRESENTATION OF PBIZES. Yesterday afternoonV the local Comi mittee and a few parents and friends of I the scholars of the above school assembled in the school-house for the purpose of presenting the prizes to the scholars who had proved themselves best in the various Standards. The Chair was occupied by I Mr Boddington (Chairman of the Committee), and the Inspector, Mr Lee, wsb present. The school-room was packed as closely as it could be with intelligent and healthy looking children, their bright eager faces displaying their appreciation of the occasion. Mr VY, T.Grundy, the head master, first addressed them. He said they had now reached the end of then-school year, and after all, the merriest and happiest portion of it. especially to thoße who had gained prizes. He hoped they would pay great attention to the words ;they would hear that day, aiid act upon thorn during the coming year. Ho reminded them that their teachers might sometimes be oompelled to speak crossly to them, but they did not do ao because they liked it, but because thoy really desired to help the scholars on. He had noticed a marked improvement in tho ni'iimei's of the children; there was an absence of the roughness that used to exist, though there was still room for further improvement, and he hoped next yoar would see a still greater advance in this respect, He told them the school was still far from being the beat, though it was Ihe largest school in tho district, but they should adopt tho motto of " Never Despair," and help their teaohers to gain (he posh ion of tho best school in tho district. He was very pleased with thoir conduct in tho past, and hoped they would give him reason to be so in the future.. (Applause). Mr Bnddington ihon asked Mr Lee to say a few words lo tho children and those present.

Mr Lee hud great pleasure; in doing so, as he was very well satisfied with i the conduct of the children during the past three or four days while lie i had been examining them. He was glad to notice that though there were this year a low less on tho roll, the actual attendance was really more, as last year only 212 came up I'oi' examination against 244 this year. There were more cliilr (lion now, also, in the higher standards. Their master appeared afraid to assume tno much mi their behalf, but ho was glad to say ho found a good spirit of work m tho school, and without comparison with other schools ho could say they were doing really good work. Tho school was not without jts weak poiuts, but thero were very few that wore. In most It was ibi)i)d th.it from year to year son)B little improvement wag required, Tho school generally displayed gootj management, and seomeil very welj under control. Tho persona) conduct of the scholars, so far as he had been able to judgo, was Very good. Tho school had siilfered under the disadvantage of , having an inadequate building, but next year they woujd be jn a tl|orougl)ly convcuiftut oiio During hid examination he Ipuj found if iioonssiiFy lo scold some of tlio solioliny Jor- wlpit );p plight, cujl H|oir "woodonhundoliiess," hut there were . many othor sol)"o|s where ho hat] to do tho sumo, It was not only his duty to judge past work, hut to point out. whore improvoiiwi's could be made. Next year several changes would bo introduced; ono was to- let scholars, aftor standard 2 had boon pasiod, do arithmetic dictation, etc., on paper, with pen instcal of slate and pencil; mid this, ho thought, would I e found a great help to schol-rs, as many who «role very nicely on a slate did not perform so creditably on paper. With rag ml to-the work of the past year, ho might say a very largo 'per-centage-!)5-of the whole passed Standard I Standard 11. was very good. In Standard 111, s -mo wiinkuess was displayed, hut t'lis school was li'it an o.wonti mi in iliia class, iißiiniH'.f iho large Be])'»'l> i" Wel ! inglnn had half the nmiihor brought up fail m ihis division. Ho attributed it In want of alluiitimi lo Hid schedules and instructions. Sniidiinl IV, had not been successful i i pist .vers, lnr he was glad lo see a very m-nke I improvement in it on this m:cas : o t. [t was tint without faults ii.iw, tint roally ifiuul p;is-j)i were made hy ■I lnv.li> p'lrtinn of iho who'e. Tim Flflli •mil tiixili Stand-ml Monk was vorygom', Ml the children hroimht up passed, and, wiili Mim HSDiiii'iiiu passed very well in"lofiil. In i!iH-e clawi reading si ill continned "'ail, as bo had imlioed il in pasl viiiv*. anil, in die P.flh Standard, the work in nrithiiie'ii', geography, and histiirv was very gw-d, but, in grammar, ihU ficlpol, in well "s lb" others iii the dji'rict, seemed to fjnd timre difficulty in makiiii!' p-is«cs fhan in any other subject. Re hoped diev w m'd hy in-1 ll'id out in \vh: t respect* tl)oyfailed, and endeavor In '•oniKly the. finlt during another year He hoped the C-'imiiiUce would be liberal in tho mutter of paper, &:., now that Iho imy system of usiit.' tho pan-inroad of t''o poni'il was a'mnt lo b> in'roduced, Ho said die plan nf nsinu the pen ntnn earlier slago Ihnn bad heen the case hitherto was nut his own, tint Mr Mundclla, iJjo Minisioi' "f Eilnoition in England, had suggested it in a speech, and he (Mr Lee) fully believed in the soundness nf his views With regard to tho prizes, maiiv who did nut receive prizes wero nearly as deserving as those who did. Tho prize in the Sixth Standard was won hy a «• irl nf, unusual ability, but llm seonnd prize. laker was miii'li yoi)ii»qi', i|i)d a|so slpijyed great ability, so that'taking the circumstances into cnnsidQi-alini) lie would not like to hiiv she was not equally deserving, He did not know whether iho present systom iif giving prizes had the effect that was wished, lint it had the effect of teaching (he yeil lesson nf life, viz., to value snecpsß, and ln hear qp against disappointments. Whatever they bngaged in thev squid all find that that where there wore priges there were also blanks, and those who drew Iho latter would learn not to desoiilr hut to try again, Ho congratulated them upon shortly going into the largest and most convenient- sohool building and playgrounds in the district, and hoped they would appreciate that, and tho enod education they were now offered. They would find the great, honefit nf education in any undertaking in which they engaged in the future, as education would give them the power within themselves of making them anything they wished to be, and the smallest hoy or girl present thai day might become a groat, man or great woman hy the power of education if they took advantage of it,-(Loud and spontaneous apt'lanio), Mr Bnddington thanked Mr Lee for his kind remarks The Committee and parents were very gratified to learn the satisfactory state of the school, and the progress nf Standard IV. was s source of congratulation to all, Standard 111. had suffered hy the wsnj; of rnoni in the present school building, but this difficulty would now he removed, as thev would soon be in the new school. He thoroughly endorsed the Inspector's remarks with .regard to placing the pen in the (hands of scholars sooner than ■was -done at present. With togard tho extra writing-paper, the capitation grant having been reduced by one-half, parents would have In he asked to assist the Committee to provide funds for that and other things, aB they could not do if; wthoutsome such help. Of course, the , assistant so asked would be entirely

voluntary. He stated'that aOme of the children were not ao punctual at school as they should be in the mornings, and pointed out it would,be quite aa easy for them to attend a little early as it tm to come late. Another thing which wan not fair to the teachers was pupils attending very irregularly nearly all the year and then amending regularly for the last ! month or two before tho examination. It was not fair to the teacher nor honorable •'■'•"• on the part of the scholars who did so.- 0 They were all aware that Mr Locke was) about to low. The ulass ho had boon [ \ would, no doubt, be verysorvJrff to lose him, and the Committee his dopartura very muoh; hut tlie/would all be glad to know that Mr Locke was Roinjj into a higher position. Ho again lmproaaed upon them tho necessity for revularand punctual attendance, and then proceeded to give out-the prizes, l giving eaoh recipient an eiicnuragiiisi or congratulatory word in presenting the award. ritiZß LIST. | '. Infant Class.—For good conduct: Florence Kingdon, Cecilia Hulmea, Alfred Bowser,

Upper Infant Class.--Ditto: F. Wood' ham, Elizabeth Kingdon, Thomas Robr

Lower Standard. i.-Attondanca: Ist prize, Frederick King; 2nd, John Strom; 3rd, Agnes Cairns.

Standard I.—lst prize, Alice Cnrhotl; .2nd, Lawrence Donald. Attendance prize: Alice Harford (not missed attendance all the year). Good conduct: Hose Wilton.

Standard ll.—lst prize, Uertha Deidrioli; 2nd, Emma Pinne, Attendance, John Cookery (not missed one attend-' auoe); good conduct, Percy Galloway. Standard lll.—lst prize, Axel Koinstedt (Ist last yoar iu Standard II); 2ud,. Robert Martin. Attendance prizes, Christurn Munro and Joseph Boddiugton; good conduct, Mary Williams and Albert Hosltinff.

Standard IV.—lst prizo, Huns Hofv ficns; 2nd, A. Hoskiug) nearly equal, but Hoffiens best raider); 3rd, George Nicol. Attendance, Eoderiok Gray (not missed a single attendance).

' Standard V.—A. D'Arcy (highest number of marks in the school); 2nd, S, Pearson (the latter was greatly commended by Mr Grundy; as two uionlbs ago he was considered cortain to fail, but qii being epoiiraKeil by the head mastey had set to work and made wqi)devfii} progress, and richly dosorved his prizo); 3rd, E Wilsono (the head master stated that had it not beon for illness it was more than probable Master Wilsone would havo secured first prize, as up to the time ho fell sick lie bad secured highest monthly marks throughout tl|e year); Jqhai|i)a Mi|p, gpuqra| good, conduct.

Standard VI. - Ist prize, Isabella Munro (also lstpriz) for needlework; head girl ii) tl|o solpiul this year); 2tj(], Elizabeth Marshall, highost daily marhq (winner of last year's scholarship), lIRAU MASTBI.'S PRIZES.

■Four prizes prjsented by tho head master for passing Sixth Standard wero awarded to Jessie Galloway, Thomas Rlinkhorno, alary Grcall|end, aipl A, Thompson, . Ml! CIIINCIIBN'S SI'BOUL I'lUiSl!, The prize given by MrOliincl|oiifn|:th,p best arithmetic wan carried off by Annig Feist, Annie Gray, who was equal, also reoeiving a prize, Tlioy each- gainod 43 marks out of a pnsslblo 50. ■

Mr Gaudy stiiod that Isabella Munro won a lint prize,-(he prize for, v sewing would go lo bur sistur as next bestf---■ Minnie Robins giinud a priza f,ir s'ew-i"" iitg, and 13'lud Jagn the little girl's prize | Aftnr tho distiilui ion was ovor Mr. 1 McU-irdle proposed a hearty vote of ' thanks to tho teachers, upon whom the advancement of the school had depended and who hid can mil lliom all lo prngress,

Tho vole was cartied iviih loud cheering and clapping. Mr Gtundy thanked them for tho 'early maimer in which they had clapped their bands and slamrod thoirfee', and pointod out that the besl way t • show tliat they approliatpi) lljcif tijaoliers, was hy qn ; deavnriiitf to' ijiio-tfigs jp schooj and paying altonlion to their studios,, (Tremendous applause.)

Three riindiig cheers in exca'lunt lime wen) ihen given for Mr Lio in appreoiailull of his kindness and efio tt lo advance thnn in knnwlsdge, tlueu for the Commil i«e, and a hearty one for Mr Gundy, Mr Boddiiigion then called out Master Hill, and cni'jraliilati'd him before his «cliO'ilfellnwß for winnin-.' the scholarship, wiling for throe choew for him. which wero given with all tlioir might, and Master Hill was afterwards carried round Urn playground shoulder high.

It is proposed tn give a picnic next week, and parents willing to assist by con'rilmling edibles, Ac, would gmtly advance (ho niiivoiiiqiit by so doing'. . We will give a list of a)| passos in a fu ure issue.