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WANGANUI. Report of the Board of Education. Technical Schools. —The technical schools at Wanganui, Palmerston North, and Hawera are in full operation. The Wanganui School is now made use of for teaching science and other subjects to the pupils of the Wanganui District High School. Classes are also held in connection with the City and Guilds of London for plumbing, &c. The art classes are also continued as usual; so that the school is not only doing useful work, but under the remodelled staff, referred to in my last report, is in a much more satisfactory condition. The schools at Palmerston North and Hawera are both suffering from want of proper accommodation. The Board has been advised of a grant for the purpose of erecting suitable rooms at Hawera, and the work will be proceeded with at once. At Palmerston North, however, where there are good classes, a building has still to be rented, which is not only unsatisfactory from a financial point of view, but the accommodation itself is quite unsuitable for the work which is required. The Board therefore trusts that the Department will at once see that steps are taken to provide a suitable building for this important institution. Kindergarten Glasses. —By the courtesy of the Wellington Education Board three of this Board's female teachers were sent to Wellington to study the kindergarten system at .one of the Wellington schools. The instruction thus received, combined with that given at the late Wanganui Summer School, under the direction of the Board's Chief Inspector, has enabled some of the teachers to obtain a fair grasp of the system, and as soon as materials are supplied by the Department the work will be commenced without delay. Report of the Inspectors of Schools. At Palmerston the high-school classes are worked in the closest connection with the technical classes. In Wanganui and Hawera we shall take care to make the connection even closer. In our opinion, all the scholastic institutions of the colony should be so correlated and co-ordinated that as little lapping as possible will take place, and each grade will be bound to all others by many links. We are hoping for the day when the idea that a boy or girl having passed all the standards has finished his education will be rooted from the minds of the community, and will be supplanted by this other, that till a boy or girl of our towns has passed sixteen or seventeen his education should continue. The aim of education should embrace the three ends—the good man, the good citizen, and the good workman; and, as the primary schools can but prepare the way for attaining these, technical and secondary schools should be called on to perfect their work.
WELLINGTON. Report of the Director of the Technical School. primary instruction. The primary syllabus being under revision by the Department of Education, progress in drawing is practically at a standstill, the work being mainly on the level of past years. Increased activity in the direction of hand and eye work is generally manifest throughout the district, and when the departmental regulations are issued progress will be rapid, for the groundwork is gradually being prepared for a combination of drawing, brush-work, modelling, &c, in the various standards. First-grade Drawing Examination. In this examination the following were the results : The number of papers worked was 6,290: passed, 3,664 ; failed, 2,626. Of these papers, 722 were taken by schools not under the Wellington Board, and 511 passes were recorded. It has been decided to discontinue this examination and to substitute inspection. This is of the highest importance, and will enable the evils of preparation for a special examination to be checked, and a more practical and sounder method of instruction adopted. The members of the Technical School staff in visiting the schools will be enabled to advise teachers as to the best methods of instruction, and at the same time value the drawing on behalf of the Board's Inspectors. Scholars holding three certificates in drawing may be examined in the remaining subject, in order that they may complete their full certificate. In all cases the examination will be conducted personally by the officer appointed to visit the schools. This method will ensure sound progress in the development of the new syllabus of work to be shortly introduced. Domestic Economy. Cookery classes, under the instruction of Miss Ivey in the Wellington Centre, Miss Millington in the Wairarapa and Forty-mile Bush, have been continued throughout the year. At the Wellington Centre the total number receiving instruction was 211, and in the Wairarapa and the Forty-mile Bush, 290. One of the difficulties connected with the above classes is the irregularity in attendance, particularly towards the end of the year ; this considerably reduces the financial assistance rendered by the Government. The irregularity of attendance is mainly caused by the children preparing for scholarship-work and leaving school after the annual examination. The general progress has been of a satisfactory character. The Wellington Gas Company generously donated the sum of £25 towards these classes.
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