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Rhondda School Board, Centre Question disposed of. To be Undivided and Retained at Porth. The monthly meeting of the Rhondda school Board was held at the Council Offi- cii} ^>en^re> °n Monday. Rev. W. Morris -R.G.S. presided, and there were also pre- sent Mr T. Bevan (vice-chairman), Ada Jones, Rev. W. Lewis, Rev Thomas Williams, Rev. W. Charles, Rev. Rowland Morgan, Messrs Dl. Thomas, W. Jenkins, Jonathan Rees, D. R. Jones, Hy. Abraham Dd. Lloyd, with the clerk, Mr W. G. Howells. Mr Dd. Williams, Treherbert, wrote thanking the Board for electing him as their representative on the Truant School Committee. A Reprimand. A letter was read from the Education apartment pointing out that the Cymmar and Forth schools should not have been closed without proper notice, except for ('i" real emergency. The Department ^as unable to accept the explanation of the Board as sufficient reason for failing to comply with the article of the Code. The Clerk said that meant that the Board would be fined £ 1 Is. in respect of each of the two schools. Mr J. H. Yoxall, on behalf of the execu- tive 0f the National Union of Teachers, called attention to the fact that under the ^-stradyfodwg Board's scale, teachers of in- fants were paid lower than those at girls' departments. He represented to the Board the undesirability of making any distinc- tion in the rates of those classes of schools, ^nd pointed out that the teachers of in- fants had passed through the same course ^training as the others, held the same cer- tificates, had equal experience and labour as the teachers of girls' schools. He hoped the Board would reconsider the question a view to having the same scale for ooth classes of teachers. It was decided by a majority of one that the letter lie on the table. Mr Dl. Thomas stated that the teachers of the Catholic schools at Tonypandy had received no salary since the priest's death, and he had been told that they could not Pay the teachers until the Board had given Permission. The Clerk said the Board had nothing to do with the matter. Pupil Teachers' GersLre. Mr W. Edwards, Her Majesty's Inspector j?t Schools, attended the meeting with re- erence to the proposal to divide the Pupil rollers' Centre. he Chairman explained that the Board ^ere anxious to give the most efficient in- struction possible to the pupil teachers, and since they were going to do something per- manently they thought to get the best ^avice possible, and to that end had invited th ,wards to attend that meeting, as did not know anyone who eould give Better advice. Mr Edwards said he had not come there to deliver a final opinion on that matter, ^e had, on a previous occasion, given an ^Pinion to the Rev. W. Lewis in reference to the proposal to divide the Pupil Teach- ers Centre into three, when he told him +iTas no^ favourable to that proposal, Without by any means making mat opinion 0 be final He at that time mentioned incidentally that the proposal to divide the school into two appeared to be a good one, that opinion had been quoted VIQ/i t c°me to discuss the matter. He ■nns'tnt i 5?ore reasons for keeping it in svmna+1?' than he had for dividing. He hised with the motive which promp- s„ • e Pr9Posal to divide; that was the A „ S or time and labour to the teachers. yfo^ear or two ago he had said the Ystrad- of teachers were overworked because pr am°unt of time spent in travelling. Woubl P°intof view a division into two fn_ appear to be advantageous, but on jn consideration he had been hesitat- Y^ether the proposal to have a school m strad would nofc cause, in some cases, stood 5fave^inS for a section. He under- took e Proposal was to send some of the in wvl Mid-Rhondda up the Valley, Walk + £ Case ^hey would have a longer train n by moving down the valley by faIn. Another reason at first sight in p0rtVr °t division was that the centre at for Was getting unwieldy, and too much man to manage efficiently, but there seem *,e(rGnt changes in the Code which in tv. m&ke it possible that the number term fC6n^re wou^ be diminished. The from t aPPrentieeship had been reduced the ff°Ur ^ree years. That would have of nt striking out about 25 per cent sorrv ? teachers. On that point he was run hear that the Board were going to goin trough that intention. They were a have a first year teacher of a sort, tenti cquas* apprenticeship. The in- chan~n ° ^he Department in making that boarJP ^I8,8 mee t the desire of school t«achS throughout the country that the eduoJrS Wou^ get a good and continuous the Pk UJ before being apprenticed, and of thn+u11 a were going to them at taking them from school to teach left ii +!P °^. whereas they should be Schr.! the Higher Grade or Intermediate agajv, ± u^til the age of 15. Referring into + the proposal to divide the centre leam +v.°'. Edwards said he had yet to save an +a^ teachers sent to Ystrad would 51x6 WonU n 0' Before giving any advice nififlt, r. to hear any further argu- TV r\hlch might be put, could /^hairman then ruled that the matter thev Jr u again be formally discussed, but Mr r! • have "an open conference." n°t thi Ti Thomas protested that he did with the Chairman was dealing fairly agajn in^allowing the matter to be favmfr IT; W- Lewis then argued in s°ore nf three schools. He did so on the At pre economy and the saving of time. avera»pSe f t ,PuPii teachers spent an to and « minutes a day in travelling whole from ^e school. That during the 8Pent line of their apprenticeship they recei It days in travelling, and only His arr days mstruction m that time, time ^Sem.ent would save much of that and Land. the system could be extended ^togeti, g ultimately done away with the r< ^^iel Thomas asked what would be 8cheme saving in time under the Vicar's tended Yjca''1 replied that his scheme ex- togethpv °r\ 4? away with travelling al- endeavmi pealing with the cost, Mr Lewis a savinr, r° £ ,o show that under his scheme huildin^ ° ? '9?^ would be effected in w°tild ho i& the cost of maintenance ^ttt s" Other points of his argu- w°nld bo na°r& individual attention °f teacbi»^1V1n' ^here would be continuity the schn healthy competition between w°uld more advantages and helps teacher* ^1Ve.n» an £ l two thirds of the Scholarship PaSS gh in tlie Queen's touclTe^Tu Charles said the Vicar had not the pUnii0^qnestion of economy, nor how teachers om Li i16 higher Grade and pupil ^rSaSdt»e taught together. suhinitted bv thought the figures This ^ewis were not reliable. wh° hoped x a Protest from the Vicar, Matter. Was n°t to be a personal Said lje wasS ^^erated his assertion, and prepared to prove that the; figures submitted by the Vicar three months ago were not reliable. Mr Lewis had not told them what time would be saved under his scheme. What- ever was done the teachers would have to walk to the station and spend some time in the train, but Mr Lewis had not dealt with that. Would his scheme be dealing fairly with the 69 teachers of Porth, where there would be no organised science school? According to the Vicar, three schools would mean a saving to the ratepayers, but two would cost E400 more. Was it natu- ral to su^ose that 240 pupil teachers could be taught so cheaply in three schools as in one school. The suggestion of unwieldiness had been driven to the four winds, because it was proved that schools with600 teachers were doing as well and better than schools with 30 to 40 pupils. Mr Hy Abraham agreed that the Vicar's figures were unreliable, and there would be no saving at all. It was cheaper to in- crease the staff than divide the school. Rev. Thomas Williams said there would still be a loss of time if a centre was estab- lished at Ystrad. Mr David Lloyd was of the opinion that the moral tone imparted by a crowd of teachers going to one school was very low indeed. He would not like a child of his to go down there. If some means could be devised to try the Vicar's experiment it would be wise, and if that scheme proved unsuccessful, they could revert to the old one. Further arguments against the Vicar's scheme having been adduced by Mr T. Bevan, Mr Edwards mentioned some objections against the Vicar's scheme. An organised science school could scarcely be worked in conjunction with a Pupil Teachers' Centre. It was not possible for pupil teachers and higher grade scholars to be taught in the same class. A satisfactory time table could hardly be arranged. Even under the new arrangements the teachers would be a good deal on the road as now. The argu- ment for having a centre at Porth would be immensely strengthened if a site was chosen so as to have a minimum of walking from the station to the school. If the site was far from the station, he thought he would advise the Department not to accept it. He was rather inclined to think the inconvenience to the teachers would be enhanced by the two schools, because the arrival of the trains did not agree. It would be possible to divide it so that all teachers should come down the Valley, but that would mean one school twice as large as the other. He was biassed rather in favour of keeping the school at Porth, but he wished to retain his final opinion. The Board could diminish the cost of the cen- tre if they made more use of the Ferndale ?'1d Ystrad Higher Grade, and the Inter- mediate schools for training the candidates before they came before them, and the number at the centre would be decreased. The Board now drew them a year too soon, and practically gave them four years ap- prenticeship when the Department said three was sufficient. Mr W. Jenkins said he would like to select the candidates in future by competi- tion. It was explained that was the course now adopted. A vote of thanks was then accorded Mr Edwards. The Vicar afterwards moved that the Pupil Teachers' Centre be divided. Mr Jenkins, who had previously seconded, now withdrew. „ Mr Daniel Tkoilias moved an amendment, "That the Pupil Teachers' Centre be not divided, and that it be an instruction to the Pupil Teachers' Centre and Building Committees to proceed forthwith to secure a site at Porth for a set of buildings to ac- commodate the Pupil Teachers' Centre, Higher Grade Centre, Deaf and Dumb School, and Cookery Classes." Only the Rev. W. Lewis voted for the motion. The Vicar. then moved, "That the Pupil Teachers' Centre be discontinued, and that a Pupil Teachers' Section for the instruction of pupil teachers be added to the Higher Grade and Science Schools of Ystrad and Ferndale, and to that about to be formed at Porth; also that in case this resolution is adopted that the present staff at the Pupil Teachers' Centre be trans- ferred and placed in charge of the proposed Porth Higher Grade School and Pupil Teachers section." None seconded. Rev. W. Charles proposed that the staff at Porth Centre come to Ystrad Higher Grade to instruct the pupil teachers from Treherbert at Ystrad. No seconder was found, the result being that the undivided centre would be retained at Porth. The Blind and Deaf. The deputation appointed to visit the institutions for the blind and deaf at Swan- sea^ reported: In accordance with the instructions of the Board, we this day visited the two institutions for the blind and deaf at Swansea, and, accompanied by Mr Hall, the honorary secretary, we made minute inspection of all the arrange- ments at both institutions, and as a result of our investigations we beg to state that we are thoroughly pleased with the manner in which both are managed. Every attention appears to be given to the health and comfort of the children, who appeared to be clean, happy, and well-fed] and we have every reason to beleive that no punishment is inflicted upon them except what may be absolutely necessary in rare cases for the maintenance of discipline. We were much impressed with the ex- cellent results obtained by the oral system of teaching the deaf, and it was also very satisfactory to observe the ease and fluency with which the pupils at the institution for the blind read and write by what is termed the "Braille" system. Chdiipnian of Building Committee The Building Committee recommended that Mr W. W. Hood be appointed chair- man of the Committee for the ensuing three years. Additional Accommodation. With reference to the question of providing additional accommodation at Pontygwaith mixed school we recom- mend that the architect be instructed to prepare plans for an additional room to accommodate 100 children, such room to be divided by a glazed parti- tion We have also under our con- sideration the question of providing additional accommodation at Mardy Infants' School, and we are informed that between 40 and 50 children under 4 years of age are now excluded from that school on account of the over- crowding. We recommend that the architect be instructed to prepare plans for an additional room to acommodate 100 children, such rooms to be divided by means of a glazed partition. We defer the consideration of the question of providing additional acommodation at Pentre. We have perused the re- marks in the annual reports on the various schools as to the structural and other improvements suggested by the Education Department. We propose visiting the schools at an early date. after which we will submit to the Board a detailed report upon the whole In the annual report on the Gelli school, the Department state that the acommodation of the boy's and girl's departments is at present insufficient for the average attendance, and that the infants' school is also practically overcrowded, there being over 300 in- fants on the books with acommodation for 226 only. We refer the matter to the Attendance Committee for con- sideration and report. Gelli School. Rev. W. Charles drew the attention of the Board to the fact that the children of Gelli had too far to walk to that school, which was also much too small. The Com- mittee were instructed to consider the matter. Architect's'Report. That the contractor at Treherbert boys' school has not yet completed the work; that the Ynyswen School House in now in the contractor's hands; that the contractor's time for maintaining Tylorstown school has now expired; that upon again visiting Blaenllechau Infants' School this week, he found the building further affected, and one of the arches over the window at the upper end nearly falling and dangerous. He has, therefore, direc- ted the Board's workmen to proceed at once to take down that arch and reset The Architect has submitted to ns plans of proposed maunal training room at Penygraig, and we recommend their adoption, and that they be sent to the Education Department for approval.. The report was adopted.. Finance. The Finance Committee reported having elected Mr Daniel Thomas, chairman of the committee for the ensuing three years. They recommended payment of accounts amounting to £4,052 14s. 7d. The treasurer's books shewed that after that day's payments a balance of 9525 18s. Id. against the Board in the general ac- count, and a balance of L934 2s. 6d. in favour of the Board in the loan account. They anticipated, however, that fee grants amounting to over C700 would be paid to the credit of the Board before the 11th instant. The had examined the Returning Officer's bill in respect of the recent School Board Election, amounting to zC319 10s. Id. and recommended its payment. This amount is Ell Os. lOd. less than the sum paid three years ago. On the motion of Mr Dl. Thomas the report was adopted. Appointments and Resignations. The Attendance Committee recommended that the Rev. W. Lewis be appointed chair- man of the committee for the ensuing three years. The average attendance at the schools during the month was 81'2 per cent, as compared with 82'4 last month, and 81'4 during the corresponding month of last year. The School Management Committee re- commended that Mr W. W. Hood be ap- pointed chairman of this committee for the ensuing three years. The stated in their report: We have received the resignation of the following teachers, and recommend the acceptance of same Mary Davies, ex-pupil teacher, Cwmclydach Girls' School; John Jones, certificated assis- tant, Cwmclydach Boys' School: Maggie Rosser, Art 68, Cymmer In- fants' School; and Edward M. Pride, certificated assistant, Cymmer Boys' School. We recommend that the "tollcwixlg be made: Thomas C, Davies, Llansawel as CllIir- tificated assistant, and Maggie key- shon, Seven Sisters, as ex-jinpil teacher, for Pentre Infants' School- The following assistant teacliers have successfully passed the second year certificate examination, and ljw apply to lac paill 4. tci L..rH_dLcd iwJ^is— tants: Agnes G. Jones, Llwynypia Infants' School; Elizabeth Benjamin, Cwmclydach Infants' School, and Anaie J. Humphreys, Blaenllechau Infants' School. We recommend that they be paid from the 1st December next as certificated assistants. We have re- ceived an application from Mr T. ti. Jones, the deputy clerk, for an increase of salary, and we unanimously beg to recommend that he be paid as from the 1st December next at the rate of L170 per annum, rising by annual in- crements of £10 to E200. We have also received applications from the assistant clerks (Messrs W. G. Howells, jr., and S. Royall) for increase of salaries, and beg to recommend that W. G. Howell, jr., be paid L75 per annum, rising by annual increments of L10 to zElOO; and S. Royall, P,60 per annum, rising by annual increments of 210 to £100. We recommend that the following deferred matters be referred to a sub- committee (consisting of the Chairman of the Board, Vice-Chairman, Miss Ada Jones, Mr D. Lloyd, Rev. W. Charles, Mr D. Thomas, and the Rev. W. Lewis), viz the application of the certified assistants for a revision of the scale of salaries, and the question of the salaries of head teachers. We have instructed the Clerk to engage as certi- fied assistant for the Ystrad Higher Grade and Science School, Henry Davies, Wolverhampton (salary, J6110 to L125 by £ 5). The report was adopted. The Evening Continuation School Com- mittee recommended that Mr D. R. Jones be appointed chairman of this committee for the ensuing three years, and the ap- pointment of the following assistant teach- ers R. A. Edwards, Dunraven evening school; David Rees, Tonypandy evening school. The Pupil Teachers' Centre Committee re- commended that the Rev. W. Charles be appointed chairman of this committee for the ensuing three years. The following appointments were made James Ashley, assistant to Tonypandy Higher Grade School; Owen L. Humph- reys, to Porth Higher Grade; Wm. H. Owen to Treherbert Higher Grade; E. T. Parfitt to Ystrad Higher Grade; Miss Edith Gwen Williams to Tonypandy; Miss Prosser to Treherbert; Owen J. Owen to Ystrad, and Owen J. Davies to Tonypandy. Holidays. It was decided to close the schools on the Thursday before Christmas, and re-open on the 2nd January.

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