E.—2.

[Appendix C

TARANAKI. Sib, — Education Office, New Plymouth, 11th March, 1912. We have the honour to submit our annual report for the year ending 31st December, 1911. At the beginning of the year ninety-three schools (including four half-time schools) were in operation, and during the year new schools were established at Ackland, Mount Messenger, and Tongaporutu Township. The school at Kotare was closed. The following table contains a summary of the examination results :—

Compared with the return for 1910, the roll number shows an increase of 156, while the increase in the number present at the Inspector's annual visit was 189. We would again point out that a serious leakage of pupils occurs principally between Standard IV and Standard VI. Seeing that at the end of 1910 the roll number of Standard V and Standard IV was respectively 491 and 629, it might reasonably be expected that these numbers would be a fair index of the roll of Standard VI and Standard V for 1911. Instead of this being the case, we find Standard VI represented by only 369 pupils and Standard V by 496. Last year the standard of exemption was raised to Standard VI, and this should tend to lessen the leakage between Standard V and Standard VI, but in order to prevent the serious loss that still takes place it seems to us that the age of exemption might well be raised from fourteen to fifteen years. Catholic Schools. —The following is a summary of examination results for each of the Catholic schools examined and inspected by us : —

General Efficiency.—Each school has been visited by us twice during the year, and the work tested has been of a very satisfactory character, and gives ample evidence that the Board has in its service a conscientious body of teachers, who are doing their utmost to raise the standard of education in this district to a high state of efficiency. While there is little we should like to add to what has already been said in previous reports with regard to the treatment of the various subjects of the syllabus, we have, however, thought it advisable to touch on a few defects which we should desire to see remedied, and on a few points that call for attention. Promotions.—Some teachers have made it a practice to promote their pupils immediately after the Inspector's annual visit, though according to the Regulations for the Inspection and Examination of Schools the classification should be determined at the beginning of the year, as the result of the teacher's annual examination held in November or December in conjunction with the prescribed periodical examinations. As this practice of promoting before the end of the year tended to destroy the uniformity of classification, and frequently made it difficult to classify pupils entering from other schools, it was found necessary to forward a circular calling the attention of teachers to clause 4of the Department's regulations. In this connection we would point out that the classification of pupils is sometimes rendered unnecessarily difficult, because they have not been provided with transfers by the teacher of the school previously attended. It also frequently happens that the transfer is incompletely filled in.

VIII

Classes. Number on Roll. Present at the Annual Examination. Average Age of Pupils in each Class. Standard VII VI ... V ... IV ... Ill ... II ... I ... Preparatory Totals 124 369 496 605 695 730 755 2,449 6,223 112 354 486 598 680 715 737 2,292 Yrs. mos. 15 2 13 11 13 1 12 4 11 3 10 4 9 5 8 0 5,974 10 1

Convent Schools. Number on P f sent , at Roll. Annua > Examination. Standard VI Certificates granted. Quality of the Instruction. Order, Discipline, and Tone of the School. Proficiency. Competency. Plymouth 'nglewood Jtratford... )punake ... 113 113 150 52 112 113 149 46 5 4 5 1 [ 2 4 2 Very satisfactory Good Very good Satisfactory Very good Good. Very good Good.