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SOUTHLAND HIGH SCHOOL. Staff. boys' School.—Me. T. D. Pearoe, M.A.; Mr. J. Williams, B.Sc.; Mr. J. P. Dakin, B.A. ; Mr. J. McKinaon; Mr. J. S. McGrath ; Mr. 3. Pow; Mr. J. G. Galloway ; Mr. E. Brownlie; Mr. F. Brookesmith. Girls' School.— Miss G. M. Cruickshank, M.A., M.So.; Miss M. B. Thomson, M.A. ; Miss H. MoKibbiii, 8.A.; Miss M. L. Wilkinson, 8.A.; Miss M. H. McG. King, M.A. ; Mrs. G. A. Turner; Mr. I. G. Galloway; Mr. P. Brocke^mith. 1. Report of the Board of Governors. The Board of Governors of the Southland Boys' and Girls' High Schools has the honour to submit the following report for the year 1907: — The Board. —At the close of the year the members of the Board were, Messrs. William Macalister, 8.A., LL.B., Chairman, and I. W. Raymond (representatives of the Southland Education Board); Messrs. A. F. Hawke and John L. McG. Watson (nominees of the Government); and Mr. W. B. Scandrett (Mayor of Invercargill). The Schools. —The Board has much pleasure in reporting that the work of both schools has been carried on successfully during the year, as is evidenced by the results achieved by pupils in the public examinations held in December, 1907; as well as by the favourable reports of the Education Department's Inspector of Secondary Schools, Mr. T. H. Gill, M.A., LL.B., and Mr. E. C. Isaac, Technical Inspector, both of whom visited the schools during the year, and inquired into the working and methods of teaching adopted therein. Attendance of Pupils. —At the boys' school during the year the total enrolment of pupils numbered 172, of whom 113 held junior free places, 32 senior free places, and 27 were fee-paying pupils. At the girls' school the enrolment numbered 143, of whom 119 held free places and 24 paid fees. The attendance, as is usual, fell off slightly towards the close of the year, the principal cause being the demand for capable boys and girls for service in various capacities. Buildings. —For some years prior to 1907 the efficiency of both schools was seriously impaired, or, at least, carried on amidst uncongenial surroundings, by the lack of sufficient accommodation for the largely increased attendance, due to the influx of pupils caused by the operation of the free-place regulations. The Board had perforce to face the position, and, after long and serious consideration, resolved to erect a new and up-to-date building for sole use as a girls' high school. To this end a site of three-quarters of an acre on the eastern boundary of the town, and contiguous to the public reserves (largely utilised as a playground by the girls), was secured by the assistance of the Government. Plans were then prepared b} r Mr. C. H. Roberts, architect, for a suitable building of two stories, with all the latest improvements for lighting, ventilation, heating, and sanitary service, and a contract entered into with Mr. Malcolm Robertson for its erection at an approximate cost of £6,500. Towards this amount the Government voted a sum of £2,500. A further sum of £2,500 was borrowed from the Bluff Harbour Board, and the work was proceeded with and finished towards the close of the preceding year. Simultaneously with the erection of the girls' new school the Board entered into another contract for the erection of additions to and certain alterations and renovation of the old building previously occupied by both boys and girls. This work, which was completed at a cost of about £1,500, the Board felt to be absolutely essential to the comfort and convenience of the pupils in attendance as well as the teaching staff. To successfully finance these important undertakings was the problem which the Board had, and has still, to face. Up to the close of the year the Board had met all its financial obligations, and now looks hopefully to the future, and expects, unless unforeseen demands for further expenditure should arise, to gradually extinguish its indebtedness. The work of both schools is now carried on amid almost ideal sanitary and other conditions. 2. Work of the Highest and Lowest Classes. Highest. — Boys' Srhool: English—Authors, Chaucer, Milton, Tennyson, Shakespeare (selections) ; Historical English Grammar ; composition ; literature. Latin—Authors read, Livy, Virgil, Horace (selections); Unseens in Prose and Verse; grammar; prose composition; history; antiquities. French —Authors read, Selections in Prose and Verse; grammar; prose composition. Mathematics —Forms VI and V—Arithmetic, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, to Junior Scholarship standard: Form IV—Geometry, Godfrey and Siddons, Books I—V; algebra, outlines, to permutations and combinations; trigonometry, to end of sine S + sine T formulae; arithmetic, general. Science —VI and V—Chemistry, inorganic; metals and non-metals; magnetism and electricity, to Junior Scholarship standard ; to Matriculation standard (Form IV) ; practical work, qualitative to quantitative analysis. Girls' School: English —English grammar and composition for Matriculation and Junior University Scholarship ; Julius Caesar ; Macaulav's Essay on Milton ; Burkes Reflections. Latin —Tacitus, Germania, to chapter 25; Horace, Odes, Book I, 1—29: Cicero De Amicitia, 1-17 ; Allen's Latin Grammar : Exercises from Bradley Arnold : Roman History and Antiquities. French—Wellington College Grammar : phonetics: Bue's Idioms ;Le Roi dcs Montagnes; Corneille's Cenna ; Moliere's Avare: composition; Fasnacht (selections); Federer (selections). Mathematics —Arithmetic, the whole subject, Workman : Algebra, VI a. Hall and Knight, to permutations and continuations ; algebra, VI b, Hall and Knight, to indices : geometry, VT a, Godfrey and Siddons, Parts I and 11, Hall and Stevens, Book VI: VI a, Godfrey and Siddons, Parts I and II : trigonometry, Lock's Trigonometry : Botany, as for University Scholarship and Matriculation : Heat, University Scholarship, Glazebrook and Deschanel. Lowest. — Boys' School: English—Authors read, Macaulay's Clive, Laureata ; grammar, composition, and spelling. Geography—Physical. English History—Ransome's Elementary Course. Latin—Welch and Duffield's Accidence; Latin Reader. Caesar's Invasion of Britain: composition. French -Beuzemaker's First French Course; grammar; and poems (Louis A. Barb 4). Non-Latin—

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