THE COUNCIL SCHOOLS

The following report has been received from H.M. Inspector respecting the Council Schools: Mixed: This is a successful school. It is well taught and happily governed. Scholars and teachers are on excellent terms with each other, and the keen and sustained interest that all display in their work is most gratifying. In the top group special mention may be made of the oral arithmetic, in which the children, the girls in particular, display a smartness and readiness not often found. Reading too, is praiseworthy, and composition exercises are creditable as far as they go, but it would be well to aim at most exhaustive treatment of a topic. Pencil drawing is not quite so satisfactory. The second group is in creditable second group is in a creditable state of efficiency. Composition is done with pleasing success; and in written arithmetic the answers are for the most part well defined. The junior section is in a flourishing condition. The teaching is on sound lines, and the children respond with considerable intelligence and zeal. Practical arithmetic is a good feature. Reading and recitation are creditable subjects, and modelling in plasticine is well is well done as a rule. Infants: These little people are making generally satisfactory progress. A little more brightness imported into the teaching would be a good thing. Reading is creditably taught, and free arm drawing is generally creditable. The handwriting of the first class is satisfactory, but it is weak in the second class.