Appendix C.

E.—2.

The following is the summary for Roman Catholic schools:—

In tlie year 11)06 on the rolls of our public schools we hail 5,149 pupils, of whom 3,536 were in Standards I to VII, and 1,613 were in the preparatory classes, the percentage of the roll in the preparatory classes being 3T3. Our roll-number for the past year is 5,794, Standards I to Vll having 3,596 pupils and the preparatory classes 2,098, the percentage of the roll in the preparatory classes being 36*8. It is remarkable thai the number of pupils in standard classes has increased by only ninety, while there is an increase of 485 in the preparatory (lasses. As the average age of pupils in the preparatory classes lias risen only one month during the period in question—namely, from sis .years eleven months to seven years it is apparent that, though the percentage of preparatory pupils has increased from 313 to 368, this large proportion of pupils in the infant classes is not the outcome of any recently developed disposition to prolong unduly the stay of the children in the preparatory stage of their school course. 'Taking the Timaru schools —viz., Timaru Main. Timaru South, and Waimataitai—we find the percentages of the rollnumber in the preparatory classes are respectively 38'!J, 484, and 455, the average age of the pupils in the Timaru Main infant room being seven years, and in Timaru South and Waimataitai seven years one month. The abnormally large proportion of preparatory pupils in these schools, the average age being about the same as that for the district as a whole, foreshows a great increase in the number of scholars to be provided for in Timaru in the near future. Last year in his report the Inspector-General of Schools, dealing with the question of the age of pupils in Standard VI, expressed the opinion that the high average age was principally attributable to the unduly long time thai pupils appeared to be kept in the preparatory classes. As the average age for the Dominion of the pupils in Standard VI was thirteen years eleven months, and as it wan fourteen years one month in South Canterbury, the adverse' criticism of the Inspector-General would seem to be specially applicable to our district, and to be a reflection on the management of our infant classes. Now. more than half the number of children of the preparatory classes are to be found in the seven largest schools, and the average age of the pupils in these classes is seven years, the same as for the district as a whole; and it is due to the members of the infant-room stalls in these schools to inquire if there are unfavourable conditions existing which will iv any measure account Tor the length of time that children are kept in the infant classes. We are perfectly satisfied that no blame attaches to the infant-mistresses, who to great skill and long experience in leaching add the graces of enthusiasm in their calling, of brightness of disposition, and of real sympathy with child-nature, and are eve) on the outlook for anything new that makes l'oi efficiency and for the happiness of the children under their charge. Alert and willing though they are, they have two great disadvantages to contend with, the first of which is that, except in the Timaru Main School infant department (with 317 children), where one of the assistants is a trained teacher, the infant mistresses depend lor assistance on pupil-teachers and probationers; and the second is that every teacher, whether infant-inistress, pupil-teacher, or probationer, has an average of over fifty little,ones to teach. IT every teacher in our infant schools were fully trained and specially adapted by nature for the management of little children, she would have her hands full with a class of fifty ; and yet. making the lies* of the staff that is provided for the school as a whole, we are compelled to intrust the children, fifty at a time, for the most part to junior apprentices. Some may wonder why the children do not gain more rapid promotion, but after the explanation we have given this attitude of wonder may well change to one of sympathy with the infant-class teachers, whose strength is strained from day to (lay almost to the breaking-point. In our estimate of their efficiency we group the schools as Follows: Good to very good, 38 schools, with 4,427 pupils: satisfactory, 27 schools, with 888 pupils: fair, 11 schools, with 271 pupils; moderate or inferior, 5 schools, with 108 pupils. Of a total of 81 schools reported on, 65, with 5,312 pupils, are in a satisfactory condition, the remaining l(i schools, with 'i7O pupils, ranking below satisfactory. The corresponding figures last year were 60 schools, with 4,943 pupils, and 18 schools, with 508 pupils. In all the schools marked " moderate " or " inferior " changes have been made in the management, and only one of the five teachers concerned remains in our employment, her position being now thai of an assistant instead of a teacher in sole charge.

XLV

(.'lanseK. Standard VII VI V IV III II I Preparatory XT, v ! Present at the I Average Age ! dumber on ; Aimua , o£ the ° Pup i Examination, in each Class. Yrs. luos. 19 19 15 10 36 35 14 5 18 II 13 10 58 55 12 7 64 63 111 72 67 10 8 49 47 9 2 139 135 7 1 Totals t85 462 11 10* * .Mean of average age.