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E.—6.

3. DISTRICT' HIGH SCHOOLS. -EXTRACTS FROM REPORTS OF IN- , SPECTORS OF SCHOOLS, EDUCATION BOARDS, DIRECTORS OF MANUAL INSTRUCTION, ETC.

AUCKLAND. Extract from the Report of the Education Board. During the year the Board became, persuaded that the district high schools under its jurisdiction were not as efficient as is desirable when the importance of the part they play in the life of the outlying districts is considered. With a view to their amendment the, Board obtained the consent of the Department to permit the Senior Inspector (Mr. E. X, Mulgan) and Inspectors MoLeod and Piteaithly, who were formerly in charge of highly successful high schools, to undertake a thorough and exhaustive inspection of district high schools. These gentlemen reported fully to the Board in terms that made it clear that the Board's impression was not groundless. The Board proposes to take steps during the, coming year to place the high schools on a better footing. It has recommended to the Department that assistants in secondary departments of district high schools should be, better paid, and has suggested that, out of capitation grants now used as part of the general income of tho manual and technical department, bonuses should be paid to secondary assistants by way of additional salary. The Board also intends to effect considerable changes in the personnel of the head teachers of district high schools, utilizing for this purpose the services of teachers who possess the necessary educational equipment to render them effective heads of secondary schools. The curriculum of the secondary department will bo so adapted that while training in agriculture is still recognized as the main necessity of pupils in rural districts, it will be possible for a pupil to obtain the ordinary high-school education that will ultimately equip him, if his parents so desire, for a professional career. With the consent of the Department the three Inspectors mentioned will pay special attention to the district high schools during next year. Extract from the Report of the Supervisor of Manual and Technical Instruction. The full rural course was taken by the secondary pupils of the Aratapu, Coromandel, Pukekohe. Te Kuiti, Taumarunui, Cambridge, Mata Mata, Rotorua, Paoroa, Waihi, and Tauranga District High Schools. Each of these schools was visited regularly by an Instructor in Agriculture, who assisted in tho agricultural-science teaching. Visiting instructors will, however, always be handicapped in their efforts to cope with the work, and to enable thoroughly efficient work to bo carried on if is desirable that only trained and skilful teachers be appointed to tho secondary departments of district high schools. TARANAKI. Extract from the Report of the Education Board. The number of pupils on the roll of the secondary department of the Stratford District .High School at the end of the year was —Boys 86, girls 82, total 168 ; at the Hawera District High School- - Boys 12, girls 14, total 20. At the end of the year two boys from the Stratford District High School secured Taranaki Scholarships, a pleasing proof of the continued efficiency of its secondary work. One boy's name, also, was placed second in the credit list of the Dominion for the Public Service Entrance Examination. Greater attention each year is being given to the study of botany, physics, and chemistry, also chemistry as applied to agriculture and dairy science ; and at the recent examination all the pupils from the secondary department included at least one branch of science in this list of subjects. Senior free places were granted to thirty-three pupils of the school- all as the result of the annual public examination. Extract from the Report of the Senior Instructor in Agriculture. The work undertaken at the classes for physical science and agriculture at tho Stratford and Hawera District High Schools was that prescribed for the requirements of the Public Service Entrance and Matriculation Examinations and for Teachers' D ; the course included general work in some parts of horticulture, orchard work, dairy and general farm work, practical and observational. For this the Stratford Model Dairy Farm, although in its infancy, proved to be of very valuable assistance, and already its worth is becoming increasingly evident. At Stratford District High School about 180 pupils took agriculture in some form or other as described above, one class doing higher agricultural chemistry. The boys have carried out very often the daiiy-herd testing for the Stratford Model Farm. Some special work done was with potatoes, and with the planting of some young trees of the eucalyptus. At Hawera District High School a class averaging thirteen did steady work, some prejjaring for examination, but the time given hardly allowed for sufficient outside work ; the pupils, however, deserve credit for tho way they prepared and carried out many indoor experiments.

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