539
Floor space.-Sufficient for 537 scholars.
Apparatus.-Satisfactory.
English-Composition.-Very good in Standard IV but shewed an unaccount- able falling off in Standard V. Standards VI and VII were good and might have been considered very good, but for the work of two or three girls in each. More attention should be given to the subject matter. Ideas should be arranged. A simple style should be cultivated, and high sounding, meaningless phrases avoided. It must be borne in mind that a large proportion of the girls do not speak English as their native tongue; and it is therefore desirable that conversation in English should be encouraged as far as possible. Reading was good and the subject matter well understood in the lower Standards. Fire recitations which are a prominent feature in the School work are only fair. More distinctness of utterance is wanted. The subject should always be well within the comprehension of the scholar.
Object lessons. In the lower Standards these were very well taught. Geography. The local Geography taught to the lower Standards was well known. The subject was, however, generally weak in the apper Standards.
History. This subject is also not so well taught in the upper Standards as in the lower, where in the form of story-telling the information is imparted in a manner well suited to the intelligence of the scholars. But I think that too much work is being put upon Standard I where this subject had better be dropped.
Arithmetic. Is taught up to decimals in Standard III. Mental Arithmetic, a new subject, was well done. Except in Standard V where very good work was done, the work of the Upper School was not altogether satisfactory. A somewhat less ambitions syllabus is probably desirable.
Kindergarten work has been successfully introduced in the Infant School.
(3).-Roman Catholic Mission-French Convent.
Discipline and Organization.-Discipline seems lax. I left one Class to do a paper under the charge of a teacher and returned to find the girls in open colla- boration. Girls should be taught to reply to questions without giggling. The spirit of the New Code does not seem to have sufficiently infused itself.
Sanitation. Very satisfactory.
Floor space.-Sufficient for 173 scholars.
Apparatus. Requires modernizing in some particulars.
English--Composition and Grammar-Fair on the whole. The essays in Standard VI were weak both us regards grammar and matter. Standard V was good except as regards handwriting Standards II and III were weak both in writing and spelling, though a good beginning seems to have been made in Standard I. Rending.-In the lowest Standard not enough attention is paid to correctness of pronunciation and distinctness of utterance. On the other hand great attention is paid to useful reading. Two good series of Readers on domestic economy and kindred subjects are in use in the School.
Geography-No attempt seems to have been made to modernize the teaching of this subject in the junior classes. For instance, in Standard III, I was told that Africa was a "compact mass" by a child who had no notion of what a compact mass was. In Standard IV the Geography of England was not known in an intelligent
way.
Arithmetic. In Standard I the girls should be taught to write down a simple addition sum from dictation. This subject is weak throughout the School.
(4).-Roman Catholic Mission-Victoria English School Discipline and Organization.-Very good. This was one of the Schools which under the old Code had a Portuguese side, now closed. It is satisfactory to- report that the attendance has not been materially diminished.