E.—l
4
schools are in some cases maintained in a higher grade than their average attendance would appear to warrant, while on the other hand a number'of schools in charge of sole, teachers at the beginning of the year had so risen in attendance as to bejjentitled to assistant teachers before the end of the year. Thus in Grade IV in 1912, 26 schools the average attendance of which did not warrant the appointment of an assistant teacher, but in Grade 111 9 schools had the services of an assistant teacher. There were therefore altogether 1,360 schools in 1912 in charge of sole teachers, an increase of 24 over last year. In other words, in 1912 sole-teacher schools formed 61-4 per cent, of the total number of public schools in the Dominion. The aggregate average attendance at these sole-teacher schools in 1911 was 24,759, or 17-1 per cent, of the total average attendance of the Dominion ; in 1912 the aggregate was 24,113, or 16-4 per cent. The average per school was 17*7, or 23-2 omitting schools below 16 in average attendance. The number of schools with two or more teachers was, in 1911, 830. In 1912 the number was 854, an increase of 24. Of these schools there were, in 1911, 31 with an average attendance exceeding 600, and 35 in 1912. During the year 1912 85 schools were closed. Several of these schools, although reckoned as closed in their original form, were reopened in another: in some cases two schools were amalgamated ; in some, half-time schools became separate fulltime schools ; and so on. Including such reopened schools, the total number of schools opened during the year was 133. The following list shows the number of schools opened and closed in each of the various education districts :• —
Increases and Decreases in Number of Public Schools.
The net increase in the number of schools open at the end of the year is thus 48. The total number of public schools in each grade is shown in Table A, the corresponding figures for the previous year being shown for purposes of comparison.
Table A. —Number of Public Schools in each Grade, 1911 and 1912.
For the number of schools in each education district, classified in grades, reference should be made to Table Al, in the primary-education report, E.-2.
District. District. Number of Schools Number of Schools Increase in Number Decrease in Number closed. opened. of Schools. of Schools. Auckland Taranaki Wanganui Wellington Hawke's Bay Marlborough Nelson Grey Westland North Canterbury South Canterbury Otago Southland ..38 60 22 4 3 ■ .. 1 . . 3 8 5 . . '.) 3 .. G .8 14 6 ..7 11 4 7 C» .. 1 •2 3 1 2 .. .. 2 .... 6 6 1 1 ..3 10 7 ..1 8 7 Increase (1912) 85 133 85 ; 48
_, Number of Schools. Grade (as in Education Amendment Aot, 1908). 1911. 1912. 0. (1-S) .. .. .. 1G2 104 1. (9-15) .. .. .. 393 i 395 2. (16-25) .. 480 : 472 3. (26-35) .. .. .. 283 , 312 4. (36-80) .. .. 462 484 5. (81-120) .. .. 127 122 . ; 6a. (121-160) .. .. 58 54 '• \ 6b (101-200) .. 33 31 . | 7a. (201-250) .. .. 34 40 '■ j 7b (251-300) .. .. 27 28 8a (301-350) .. .. 24 24 S. 8b (351-400) .. 13 17 ( 8c (401-450) .. .. 16 8 _,,.„, , . Number of Schools. Grade (as m Education Amendment Aot, 1908). 1911. 1912. ( 9a. (451-500) .. 7 12 !). ' 9b (501-550) .. 12 9 ( 9c (551-600) .. 4 7 10a. (601-650) .. 12 13 | 10b (651-700) .. .. 5 3 I 10c (701-750) .. 6 8 10d (751-800) .. 3 5 10. 10e (801-850) .. 2 3 10p (851-900) .. -2 2 I lOo (901-950) 10h (951-1,000) 101 (1,001-1,050) .. .. 1 1 Totals.. .. 2.166 ! 2,214