Hawera Convent School

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1, 4 January 1906, Page 3 (Supplement)

Hawera Convent School

(From an occasional correspondent.). v December 20. The annual entertainment by the Convent School children -came off on Wednesday at the Opera House, and attracted a ■wery large audience. It seemed ambitious for the children of a primary school to appear in so large a hall, but that they were eminently successful is beyond a doubt. They kept the attention of the house for over two hours, and for every item won asost generous applause. While the programme gave satisfacxSion to those of the most varied tastes, it showed how com-

petent the- Sisters were to undertake every branch of a sound primary education. There were graceful drills and dances, showing that great attention must have been paid to that form at least of physical culture. We had music and her sister song. Then there came a beautiful little drama entitled " Through Darkness to Light," into which the children down to the youngest entered with a spirit that' would do creditto much older amateurs. The finest points about the ' whole programme were the perfect articulation of the children — not a word being lost in either the choruses or the drama — and the» beautiful singing of the boys. For the most part in New Zealand the boys seem to be more or less neglected when there is question of the graces of education; bui this is not the case in the Hawera Convent School. The Sisters intend the singing of the boys to be a special feature of our school concerts for the future, and they know by experience that with a little care and patience much can be made of the voices of boys. At the end of the programme the Very Rev. Father Power returned thanks, on behalf of the audience and on his own behalf, to the children who had given them such a treat. Now that there was such a demand, not only for the elements of a sound education, but for those accomplishments that enabled the educated to grace their position in life, he was glad to find that the Convent Schools here and elsewhere were meeting that demand, and generously pouring out the supply ; and he was grateful to the audience for their acknowledgment of that so far as the Hawera Convent School was concerned. The report of the Government inspector was proof of the Sisters' good work in a more important branch of education, and the examination which he himself had held in Christian doctrine showed that the highest branch of all had not been neglected. The Manaia Convent School children were unable to have their annual display through there being no suitable hall, but the sacred concert given by them in the church on Monday evening showed that they had been well taught.