E.—2.

It was impossible, of course, to expect the scheme to be implemented with equal fullness in all schools ; in many cases facilities for swimming were not anywhere in the neighbourhood, nor were shelter and shade always available in the school-grounds. At least one school broke new ground by holding a school camp for its senior pupils ; this proved a splendid success, and was so popular with parents, pupils, and teachers that a repetition on an extended scale is planned for 1939. Post-primary Departments of District High Schools. The number of district high schools —primary schools with a post-primary top —continues to increase, indicating a growing desire of rural districts to secure for the children some education beyond the primary stage. There is evidence also that numbers are enrolling with no particular examination in view, but with the desire to attain a cultural education especially designed to fit them to enjoy more fully the life of a rural district. Music, art, craftwork, and literature are accordingly receiving more attention ; there is a keen interest also in agriculture and horticulture. It must be borne in mind, however, that by no means all the pupils wish to lead a rural life, nor would it be reasonable to expect them to do so. Many are residents of the small country towns in which these schools are situated, and many of these and many also from the farms wish to qualify for a professional or commercial career. It is often their support which brings the post-primary department into being. In some of the centres it has not yet been possible to provide manual training of a suitable nature ; this is due principally to the impossibility of grouping these isolated centres with others to share the services of an instructor, for no centre is large enough to require the services of a full-time instructor. It is this lack of a sufficiently diversified staff from a teaching point of view that is the greatest obstacle to the full development of the district high schools. Most of the schools have only two or three teachers; some have only one. It is impossible in such circumstances to implement fully that variety of courses which a well-equipped post-primary institution can offer its pupils. One procedure that would offer a generous measure of relief would be the inclusion in the post-primary department for teaching and staffing purposes of Forms I and II of the local schools. Another would be the provision and correction of courses by the Correspondence School wherever there was one or more pupils desiring instruction in a subject which the local staff was not competent to teach. This system is rapidly extending in America ; it is already operating here, and its active extension will be considered. Consolidation op Schools. The consolidation of small country schools is proceeding apace. It is safe to say that the rural community, at first very reluctant to consider the system, is being gradually won over. The advantages from the educational, recreational, and social points of view are becoming so obvious that it is difficult to keep pace with the demand. Of all the schemes in operation, nearly one-third were adopted last year. The Correspondence School. The Correspondence School continues to develop both in roll numbers and educational activitiesThe primary roll is now almost stationary, and probably will remain so ; the secondary roll shows considerable expansion. Innovations include the visiting by experienced members of the staff of pupils of certain districts in their own homes ; this has enabled many problems which vexed the parents and the pupils to be solved on the spot. It is intended to continue the system to cover every two years the isolated homes of the Dominion. In addition, every physically handicapped pupil in the Wellington District has been visited. Complete arrangements were made for holding a school camp in the grounds and buildings of the Gisborne High School last May, but unfortunately at the last moment heavy local floods upset all the plans. A camp, however, will be held in 1939. Its success or otherwise will determine any extension of the system. Broadcast lessons to the pupils have been better organized, and negotiations are in train with the National Broadcasting Service for a possible increase of time. Special private arrangements were made by the Parents' Association of the school with a radio-manufacturing firm for the sale and servicing of receiving-sets, and this has considerably increased the number of homes listening-in. The course in woodwork introduced last year has been extended to include trade drawing, instrumental drawing, and the mechanics of building construction. An experiment in physical instruction is being made. A pleasing development is the- action of local athletic associations in inviting local Correspondence School pupils to compete as a school at their annual meetings. In co-operation with the Department of Agriculture courses have been instituted for young farmers, and these include such subjects as farm accounts, dairy science, and soil science. There is a keen demand. And finally an event of no small significance was the attendance of the Headmaster at the First International Conference on Correspondence Education held towards the end of the year at Victoria, British Columbia. Although a full report of the Conference is still to come, there is ample evidence that the foundations of our school have been well laid and that to incorporate some of the more important ideas featured here and there in other countries little more is necessary than to expand what we are already doing by extending the curriculum to cover more subjects, especially of a vocational nature, and to reach more age and occupational groups. The implementing of such a policy would necessitate the appointment of a more diversified staff from the instructional point of view and the provision of office equipment capable of dealing expeditiously with the greatly increased amount of correspondence involved.

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