XXV.

BOARD OF EDUCATION.

QUARTER ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 1867.

SUMMARY REPORT OF INSPECTOR OF SCHOOLS.

To the Hon. H. J. Tancred, Chairman.

SIR,—I have the honour to submit, together with a Report for the above quarter, a Tabular Summary of the Quarterly Returns, and a Schedule as to the efficiency of the Schools examined.

It will be seen from the Tabular Summary that, during the quarter, the gross number of attendants has amounted to 2431, an increase of 139 upon the corresponding quarter of 1866; while, owing to the severity of the winter, the prevalence of measles, and the general depression, the average has fallen off to a daily attendance of 1478—a decrease of 81, and the gross amount of school-fees paid (and in arrears) to £791 7s. 2d.—a decrease of £22 17s. 11d.

As compared also with the preceding quarter of the current year, there has been a general decrease in the attendance, owing to the same causes.

From the schedule as to their efficiency, it will be seen that the number of Ordinary Schools examined has been 40, including 1464 children; or, taken together with 75 in attendance at the Lyttelton High School, and 10 at the proposed Gray-Cross School, forming a total of 42 schools, and 1549 children examined during the quarter.

I have much pleasure in reporting the generally satisfactory state of the schools as regards their suitable sites, buildings, and premises; the sufficiency of the furniture, fittings, apparatus, and books; and the fair attainments of the children as proportioned to the teaching power.

With regard to the sites, these being generally well-chosen with reference to the surrounding population, there is but little to say about them; but the growth of population further from the original centres has raised a question, in one or two instances, whether the wants of the district can be better supplied by removing the old school or by establishing an additional new one.

I propose here to specify the more satisfactory school-buildings, while reference to the Schedule and the Monthly Reports will sufficiently indicate those less satisfactory. The Lyttelton Church of England and the Christchurch Roman Catholic Schools are costly structures, lofty and spacious rooms, pleasant and airy, sufficiently warmed and ventilated. The Christchurch St. Michael’s and the Halswell School are but second to these, and they have the additional advantage of commodious dwellings for the teacher, and room for the accommodation of boarders. Waimate and Timaru have also fine school-rooms, in which, however, too much having been lavished upon architectural effect, very insufficient space has been left in the teacher’s dwelling; and there has been no thought of provision for boarders from the remote part of the districts. Schools of such dimensions each require an experienced master and mistress, for whom and their families very miniature dwellings are quite inadequate.

In all of the four last-named schools, disadvantages result from the dwellings being attached to the school-rooms. Where they are under adjacent gable-roofs, the water, from heavy rain or hail-storms, collects in the gutters and penetrates into the buildings. But in any case where the buildings are attached, the school is liable to interruption from domestic causes, and the buildings affect each other’s ventilation.

The buildings erected since the Report of the Education Commission of 1863, and in accordance with its suggestions, are mostly of a less pretentious character, yet thoroughly convenient both as schools and dwellings.

Such schools as any of those above-mentioned or referred to are generally classed as A in the Schedule; but B has been sometimes used to signify that, although the school room is good enough as a structure, yet that either the buildings do not comprise a dwelling for the teacher, or that they are otherwise inadequate to the wants of the district in size, comfort, or in other respects.