Page image
Page image

E—2

Correspondence School Silver Jubilee Opened in 1922, the Correspondence School celebrated its Silver Jubilee this year with a series of functions in-Wellington. These were attended by large numbers of pupils, ex-pupils, and parents. The governing bodies of Wellington and Hutt Yalley schools organized billeting for all visitors and lent their halls, grounds, and refectories for the various functions. The railways and tramways, workshops, municipal milksupply, harbour facilities, and zoological gardens were visited as part of a planned education week. A comprehensive exhibition of pupils' work was displayed. Conferences of the Parents' and Ex-pupils' Associations were held. The enrolment for the first time exceeded 5,000 students, of whom approximately 2,000 were primary and 3,000 post-primary. A notable feature of the School is the large number of families on the roll, in many cases in all branches at once—children in both primary and post-primary sections and parents enrolled for part-time vocational courses. Altogether, 516 students achieved examination and certificate successes, including Higher School Certificate, 3; Endorsed School Certificate, 19 ; University Entrance, 27 ; School Certificate, 56; Teachers' "C" Certificate, 160; Post and Telegraph Entrance, 107; Public Service Entrance, 37 ; Chamber of Commerce, 3; Primary School Leaving Certificates, 104. A team of six visiting teachers was fully engaged throughout the year, chiefly in urban areas, where the School's courses include work for physically handicapped students. Some Features of School Work Infant Department. —The infant departments continue to function very successfully. The infant-advisers have been of great assistance to teachers and have been largely responsible for the almost universal adoption of the " development" period, with its learning and growing activities and its smooth " home to school" adjustments. Many infant-teachers find it difficult to obtain sufficient reading-material, partly due to the leeway to be made up on account of the poor supply during the war years. It is of vital importance, however, that the infant departments be supplied generously with wellgraded and brightly illustrated reading-material. Reading is now being taught with a wise emphasis on meaning and is no longer an exercise in word-recognition. This method of approach, based on the story and comprehension, is proving successful in fostering a love of reading and the formation of good reading habits. The same emphasis on meaning is being applied to the teaching of number, an appreciation of which the children now obtain through activity and the manipulation of specially devised equipment and toys. Health and Temperance.—The purpose here is to establish good health habits. The new syllabus stresses this, and the teachers co-operate fully with the nurses of the school medical and dental services and with District Nurses. The Junior Red Cross continues to hold the interest of the children and is proving remarkably effective in the methods it adopts. Practical teaching in health habits has the happy result of bringing about closer co-operation with the homes. In one district several schools held a health week, when the medical officers, the dental nurses, and the school staffs worked together to bring this most important subject before the parents and the children. While, in general, progress can be reported, there are some schools where the teaching of health and hygiene is vague and nebulous. Temperance teaching in its widest sense is closely related to health and is largely a matter of habit-formation and character-training. The syllabus provides for instruction in the harmful effects of over-indulgence in alcohol and stresses the need for an appreciation of the beneficial effects of temperance in all things.

5

Log in or create a Papers Past website account

Use your Papers Past website account to correct newspaper text.

By creating and using this account you agree to our terms of use.

Log in with RealMe®

If you’ve used a RealMe login somewhere else, you can use it here too. If you don’t already have a username and password, just click Log in and you can choose to create one.


Log in again to continue your work

Your session has expired.

Log in again with RealMe®


Alert