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16. The Peak School moved at the beginning of the Christmas term from temporary premises in the Peak Hotel to its newly erected quarters. The Headmistress was absent on leave through the greater part of the year. The numbers fell off considerably in the summer months: the highest enrolment was 39 in December. The school has everything in its favour, and looks like becoming a success.
17. To meet the difficulty of classifying nearly 40 children ranging in age from 4 years to 11, a third Mistress was appointed to take charge of the Kindergarten Class.
18. Afternoon school for Infants was closed during the summer months, and attendance of other children was made optional. In future, all except those in the Infant Class will be expected to attend afternoon school, unless their parents specially apply for their exemption. Children are much more likely to suffer harm from spending the afternoon wandering aimlessly along the roads with their amahs, or listening to their converse, than from sitting in a cool classroom occupied in light and interesting tasks.
19. The following extracts are from the Inspector's reports:--
"In Arithmetic, great attention is necessary both as to neatness and method, although some of the older children did fairly good work. History, taught in the form of stories, is a popular and successful subject.
"In Composition, considerable originality was displayed, but the children should be taught to make shorter sentences. Throughout the written papers confusion frequently resulted from the too frequent use of pronouns.
"Nature Study was weak. The drawings were not bold enough—in many cases they were microscopic—and were consequently useless as illustrations. At this early stage, when teaching the children about flowers and plants, it would be advisable to select only those that grow locally.
"Drawing was very creditable, some very pretty and clever work being done.
"It is noteworthy that in the case of all written work, that done by the girls was much superior to that of the boys.
"Singing was good, and evidently much enjoyed.
"Each child is now provided with a Report Book, in which the Head Mistress reports monthly upon the work done. This report is then sent to the child's parents for their inspection and signature. At one time, there was an air of slackness and lax discipline; this has been dealt with and much stricter discipline has been insisted upon. Good results are already apparent; the children are more respectful, more obedient, more careful in their work; and it is satisfactory to be able to report that not only parents, but the children themselves, appreciate the stricter discipline to which they are now subjected.
"The school is now inspected and all the children medically examined quarterly by a Government Medical Officer. In his first Report, which is of recent date, Dr. McKenny writes:—