dated before any entry of attendances or absences is made in it. These attendance columns should be grouped in weeks, and at the foot of them should be spaces for totals of the number present when the registers were marked and the number withdrawn before the time constituting an attendance is complete (Art. 12(d)). There is no need that the weekly total of attendances of each scholar should be entered; but it will be convenient to add up, and record the total of, the attendances of each quarter. 15. If school fees are entered in the register, they should be kept quite separate from the other entries; the best place will be the extreme left of the page before the names of the scholars. 16. Every scholar whose name has been entered in the admission register and not removed from that register must be definitively marked \ (present) or ○ (absent) at every meeting of the school. But this need not 17. When a scholar leaves before the completion of the minimum time prescribed by Art. 12, his mark of presence must be cancelled by drawing a ring round it thus, and his attendance must be deducted from the total. be done in the case of a scholar leaving the school for instruction in any of the subjects mentioned in Art. 12 (ƒ), unless it is subsequently ascertained that such scholar has not completed the minimum time constituting an attendance. Any scholar marked absent at any meeting who is found when the registers of a central class for cookery, drawing, science, &c. are examined, to have been present during the minimum time constituting an attendance (Art. 12 (a) and (b)), at such class or partly at such class and partly at the school, may have the letter C, D, S, &c. entered inside the mark of absence, thus, OOO. All attendances so registered should be added to the total attendances of each child at some time not later than the end of the year. 18. At each meeting so soon as the attendance totals have been entered (see 12 above) they must be verified by comparison with the number of scholars actually present. 19. The number of scholars who have left any meeting before completing their attendances (see 17 above) must be entered at the close of each meeting. 20. When the school does not meet on an occasion for which space is provided in the registers, this space must before the next meeting be cancelled by one or more lines being plainly drawn through it. The reason why the school did not meet should always appear in the log-book. For longer periods "holiday' should be written across the column. 21. Attendance registers should be preserved for five years after they are filled. 22. The attendance registers must be marked every time the school meets, however small the attendance, and the meeting must be counted in ascertaining the average attendance. REGISTER OF SUMMARIES. 23. In day schools, the attendance totals of each class and department, for each week or part of a week, the number of times each department has been open for the same periods, and the average attendance of each department for these periods should be entered in the Register of Summaries at the close of each week. 24. At the end of the school year the total number of attendances and meetings for that year should be ascertained for each school or department. 25. The average attendance for the year should also be ascertained for each section of the school for which separate returns are required by dividing the total number of attendances in the year by the number of meetings of the school in that year. 26. The summary should also show the number of scholars on the registers at the end of the school year classified as required by Form 9. 27. Registers of Summaries should be permanently preserved. LOG-BOOK. 28. "The log-book must be stoutly bound and contain not less than 300 ruled pages. It must be kept by the principal teacher, who is required to enter in it, from time to time, such events as the introduction of new books, apparatus, and courses of instruction, any plan of lessons approved by the inspector, the visits of managers, absence, illness, or failure of duty on the part of any of the school staff, or any special circumstances affecting the school, that may, for the sake of future reference or for any other reason, deserve to be recorded. No reflections of opinions of a general character are to be entered in the log-book." (Art. 8.) 29. Entries in the log-book should be made at the end of each school week, and at such other times as occasion may require. 30. The log-book should contain an explanation of the reason for the closing of the school on all occasions on which it is closed. 31. It should also contain an account of all important variations in the attendance, and all deviations from the ordinary routine of the school. 32. Log-books should be kept as a permanent record. HALF-TIME SCHOLARS.1 INSTRUCTIONS TO H.M. INSPECTORS. [7th April 1887.] You will observe that the definition of a half-time scholar in Article 11 has been altered in the Code for the present year by the addition of the words "and in either case recognised by the Department as a half-time scholar." This alteration has been made in order to prevent Article 12 (b) from giving undue benefit to schools in respect of scholars who have passed the half-time standard, but are not habitually employed. It would be manifestly unfair that a scholar whose employment has been so occasional that he has been able to attend (e.g.) four-fifths of the times the school has been open, should be allowed by Article 12 (b) to contribute to the total number of attendances a greater number than he could possibly have made as a full-time scholar. The following instructions have been slightly changed from those of previous years to meet the change in the Code: 1. The attendances of all scholars will continue to be entered daily in the class registers. 2. A separate half-time register will be kept of all half-time scholars. The managers should not enter in this register the name of any scholar unless he has obtained a labour certificate from the local authority of the district, and is actually employed in conformity with such certificate. 3. In this half-time register will be posted, at the close of each week, the number of the attendances made by each of the halftime scholars during the week. 4. The class registers will be marked for half-time scholars just in the same way as for other scholars, presence for not less than two hours of secular instruction being marked by a stroke, and the entry for the week in the half-time register will be the number of such two hour attendances made during the week. When the yearly total is ascertained 50 per cent. may be added to it, to obtain the number of "attendances" as defined in Article 12 (b). 5. In Form 9 it will be necessary for statistical purposes to have the total number of two hour attendances, whether made by half-time or whole-time scholars, stated. The average attendance 1 As to certificates of half-time scholars, see p. 563. entered in Form 9 will be found by dividing this number by the number of meetings of the school. In the space following the entry of average attendance (Number VII. (4)) will be entered, as at present, the additional attendances (50 per cent. of those made by the half-time scholars) claimed under Article 12 (b). The average attendance, which will be the basis of the grant, will be calculated from the above data in the office. 6. At the end of the year a list will be drawn up, signed by the officer of the local authority, and presented to the inspector, certifying (a) the number of two-hour attendances made by each half-time scholar, (b) the addition claimed on his behalf under Article 12 (b). This addition may not exceed— (i.) One-half of the two-hour attendances made by the scholar during the year; or (ii.) Such a number as when added to the number of his two-hour attendances will give a total equal to three-fourths of the number of meetings of the school during the year.1 In Form 10 the inspector will certify, in answer to Question IV. on page 7, the total number of two-hour attendances, plus the addition claimed and allowed under Article 12 (b) in respect of all the half-time scholars. 1E.g. Suppose a school to have met 420 times— A half-timer, if quite regular throughout the year, will be present at 210 meetings; and Article 12 (6) allows in this case an addition of 105 to his two-hour attendances. If from any cause, such as illness or residence in the district for less than a year, his attendances fall short of 210, he may still be counted as a halftimer for the number of times he does attend. In such a case, if he attend, say 180 times, he may have an addition of 90 to his two-hour attendances. If, on the other hand, he has been out of work for any time, and, therefore, at school, he may have made more than 210 two-hour attendances. In respect of such extra attendances he has no claim to be treated as a half-timer. If he has attended (say) 260 times, he may be allowed an addition of 55 to make up 315, i.e. three-fourths of 420. APPROVAL OF TIME TABLES. INSTRUCTIONS TO H.M. INSPECTORS. EDUCATION DEPARTMENT, 31st May, 1871. SIR, I am directed to remind you that before approving a time-table under the Minute of 7th February, 1871, (1) you must ascertain that it conforms to section 7 of the Elementary Education Act. This is all that is essential in order that you should affix your signature. To prevent any misunderstanding on this point, I am to request that you will enter on time-tables which satisfy the prescribed conditions, "approved on behalf of the Education Department as fulfilling the requirements of Section 7 of the Elementary Education Act, 1870." * Her Majesty's inspectors ought not to interfere with the responsibility of managers and teachers for the details of school work. The efficiency of their arrangements will be tested by the results produced at the annual examination of their school; but you can point out any serious objection to a time-table which is presented to you for signature, leaving the managers to decide whether they consider an alteration necessary. If the time-table does not show the classes and subjects entrusted to the pupil-teachers, and the time given by the principal teacher, during school hours, to their technical instruction in the art of teaching, these particulars ought to be entered in the log-book, and inquiry should be made, at the time of your visit, as to how far the arrangements so recorded are carried out in the daily work of the school. I have the honour to be, &c., EDUCATION DEPARTMENT, 10th August, 1872. SIR,-1. My Lords are frequently asked whether, and if so, under what circumstances, the managers of a school may allow a time-table which has been approved by Her Majesty's inspector to be departed from in the daily work of a school. 2. So far as a time-table sets forth, as required by Section 7 of (1) For Minute of 7th of February, 1871, and subsequent Minute dated 2nd of April, 1878, as to approval of time-tables, see pp. 71, 72. As regards approval of time-tables in schools transferred to school boards, see p. 112. |