INTERMEDIATE SCHOOLS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 28, 30 December 1932, Page 10

INTERMEDIATE SCHOOLS.

FORMER “JUNIOR HIGH.” IMPORTANT REGULATIONS. AUCKLAND, Dec. 29. Important regulations concerning “junior high schools” are published in the Gazette. The new name for such schools from now on is to be “intermediate schools” and it is set out that the period of a pupil’s tuition at them shall be in general two years, except that in special, cases the Director of Education may approve an extension of the period. The regulations “ set out conditions of staffing, salary and curriculum more fully than the old regulations, and in this respect they have been received with approval by education authorities. As far as tlie curriculum is concerned, all pupils in an intermediate school or intermediate department shall for approximately 17 hours a week receive instruction in English, arithmetic, history and civics, geography, elementary science, drawing, singing and physical education, and the instruction shall follow on broad lines the prescriptions, for Forms I. and 11. in the syllabus of instruction for public schools.

During the remaining portion of the school work all pupils are to receive manual or home arts instruction for not less than one and a-half hours weekly, and also a supplementary course of instruction chosen from the academic, commercial, agricultural, art, or manual training courses. CERTIFICATE OF PROFICIENCY. The supplementary course to be taken by each pupil is to be determined by the principal after consideration of the washes of the parent and the report of the head teacher of the school previously attended. A change in a pupil’s course of study may be made if deemed necessary by the principal after consultation with the parent. The courses provided will be sufficiently diversified to meet the needs of different types of pupils and to furnish ample opportunity for the pupils to reveal their special aptitudes. With the approval of the director, courses of instruction may bo provided for pupils in advance of the ordinary syllabus. -

A pupil who has completed an approved course of instruction in Form 11. and has, in the opinion of the senior inspector, reached a good standard of attainment, will receive a certificate of proficiency which, for all purposes, shall be regarded as at least equivalent to the certificate of proficiency as defined in the regulations for the organisation, examination and inspection of public schools.