532
Appendix D.
DETAILED REPORTS ON SCHOOLS.
A.
GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS.
B.
GRANT SCHOOLS.
[NOTE--The numbers in A. and B. correspond with
those in Appendices d. and E. respectively.]
GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS.
(1).--Kowloon British School.
Staff.-B. JAMES, M. A., and 3 Mistresses.
The
Discipline and Organization.-With few exceptions the scholars are under twelve years old, so that the bulk of the work is of an elementary nature. general tone and discipline continue to be excellent.
Sanitation.-Very satisfactory.
Floor space.-Sufficient for 288 scholars.
Apparatus. Very satisfactory.
English.The children are as a whole well up to the standard of elementary schools at Home.
Reading. Particularly good.
Handwriting. Neat, but somewhat laboured more insistence should be laid in the lower Forms on making the children join their letters. Great pains are taken with Composition in the higher Forms. The constant correspondence with scholars in other schools in England, Canada and elsewhere, conducted through the instrumentality of the League of Empire, is evidently of great value in culti- vating the ability to describe circumstances and events vividly and with accuracy.
General Intelligence.--Papers are set weekly, and these are also well adapted to the same end, as the subject marter is such as appeals readily to the minds of the scholars. At an inspection during the recent visit of the King of Portugal to England, I was pleased and amused to find that a junior Form not only were aware of the fact, but insisted particularly on his resemblance to a certain citizen of the Colony.
Science and Chemistry.—The properties of the commoner elements were taught with the aid of the usual apparatus during the greater part of the year to the two highest Forms. Un Mrs. JAMES' resignation these lessons bad to be dis- continued. Some kind of scientific teaching is undoubtedly desirable: but it is not easy to draw up a syllabus suited to the conditions of the school.
The plan now to be tried is to use the handbook on hygiene, recently issued by the Government, as a basis of instruction. It appears to me that the object lessons usually taught to little children might also be so given as to have their bearing on the subject. The purpose of object lessons is often forgotten. It is not so much to teach a number of isolated facts, as the cultivation of the observation at an age when it is naturally extremely vivid. King's Park, a rat, a water tap, are (for instance) objects of interest to childish minds; but their study may also be mude a direct preparation for lessons in the higher Forms on the maintenance of health, precautions against disease, and water supply.