the requirements of any bye-law passed by a local authority, for the half-time instruction of children above 10 years of age.1 6. Attendance at a morning or afternoon meeting may not be reckoned for any scholar who has been under instruction in secular subjects less than two hours,2 if above, or one hour and a half3 if under, seven years of age. These hours need not be consecutive, nor necessarily the same for the whole school. School Registers. 7. The registers of every certified efficient school must be so kept that the attendance and progress of individual scholars may be tested, and certified, with ease and certainty, in pursuance of any regulations made by the Education Department, under the Elementary Education Act, 1876 (sec. 24); and for this purpose in every school, there must be (1.) A register of admission, progress, and withdrawal. (2.) Registers of daily attendance. (3.) A book of summaries. Admission Register. 8. The admission register should show distinctly for each child in the school (a.) Its number on the register. (b.) The date of its admission (day, month, and year). (c.) Name in full, Christian and surname. (d.) The name and address of its parent or guardian. (e.) The exact date of the child's birth. (f.) The last school (if any) which it attended before entering this school. (g.) The date of leaving. 9. (a.) This register should be made up at least once a week. Successive numbers should be allotted to the children on their admission, so that each child may have its own number. (b.) Where several children of the same name attend, they may be distinguished thus: "John Jones (a)," "John Jones (b)," &c. (c.) This register should have an alphabetical index. Attendance Registers. 10. The attendance registers must be marked every time that the school meets, and must show the daily and weekly attendances of every scholar for each year. 11. On the outside of the cover of each register should be legibly written 1 An arrangement under this rule may provide for a school being open only in the morning, or afternoon, of each day, or twice a day for certain months in the year. 2 This may include an interval of 15 minutes for recreation during a meeting of 3 hours, or of 5 to 10 minutes in a shorter meeting. 3 Not including any time allowed for recreation. the name of the school, and the year, also the department (boys, girls, mixed or infant, as the case may be), and the class or classes, to which it belongs. 12. Each register should contain (a.) Columns for each child's admission number, for its name in full, and its age last birthday, and columns for all the weeks in the year. (b.) A column for the entry at the close of each week of the total attendances made by each child during that week, and, at the end of the register, columns to sum up the total attendances of each child during the year. Another column is required in schools attended by half-timers, who should be distinguished by the insertion of "H" (half-timer under any Act) after their names. 13. In marking these registers, the following rules should be observed :(1.) Every child must be marked at the commencement of each meeting of the school. (2.) Presence must be marked with a long stroke (thus ). (3.) As soon as a child completes its two hours of secular instruction, its mark for presence should be crossed by another stroke (thus ×). (4.) Registers must be original and not copied from slates or papers. (5.) The number of attendances made by the class should be entered at the foot of the column every morning and afternoon. (6.) The number of attendances made by each child during the week must be entered. 14. At the foot of the attendance columns for each week, or in some place specially provided for them in the registers, should be entered : (a.) The number of times the school was open, morning and afternoon. (b.) The total number of attendances made by all the children on this register during the week. Summary. 15. The weekly entries of the attendance of each class should be transferred from the class registers every week into appropriate pages in a summary register, and the average attendance of the whole school for each week recorded. 16. At the completion of the year, the annual averages for the whole school should be struck and entered, of boys and girls separately, (1) under 5, (2) between 5 and 7, and 17. These registers must be provided by the managers, so as to be the property of the school, and not in any sense of the teacher. 18. All the registers should be checked at uncertain intervals, and at least once in every quarter, by the managers. They should also be signed at the same time by the teachers responsible for them. 19. The registers, when filled, must be carefully preserved for 10 years. 20. If a school is discontinued the registers are to be handed over to the local authority of the district. General Conditions. 21. An Inspector may visit any certified efficient school at any time without notice, and will endeavour to do so with notice once every year. 22. The managers will, when called upon, report as to the teacher's character, conduct, and attention to duty. 23. The Inspector will report whether the school is efficient in organisation, discipline, and instruction, and whether the registers are properly kept. 24. The certificate that a school is efficient may at any time be recalled or suspended, if (a.) Either of these reports is unsatisfactory; or, (b.) Any of the conditions on which the certificate was granted cease to be fulfilled; or (c.) The Department is not satisfied that all returns called for are duly made, the admission and daily attendance of the scholars carefully registered, and all returns and certificates of character may be accepted as trustworthy. 25. Notice of the issue, suspension, or withdrawal of a certificate of efficiency will be given to the local authority of the district in which the school is situated. 26. Notice is to be given to the Department, by the managers, of any change of teacher in the school. 27. The managers must appoint a correspondent with the Department, and must give notice of any change of correspondent, 28. Teachers cannot act as managers of, or correspondents for, the schools in which they are employed. CERTIFICATES OF AGE, SCHOOL ATTENDANCE, AND PROFICIENCY, AND PAYMENT OF SCHOOL FEES FOR CHILDREN HOLDING HONOUR CERTIFICATES. REGULATIONS OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT. AT the Council Chamber, Whitehall, the 9th day of February, 1877, and the 2nd day of April, 1878.1 By the Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council on Education. The Lords of the Committee of Privy Council on Education, by virtue and in pursuance of the powers in them vested under the Elementary Education Act of 1876, and of every other power enabling them in this behalf, do order, and it is hereby ordered as follows:— I. With respect to Certificates of Age, School Attendance, and Proficiency, for the purposes of the Elementary Education Act, 1876. 1. Any parent, or other person interested in the education or employment of a child, may apply to the local authority, or local committee, of the district in which the child resides, or to the managers of any certified efficient school in which the child is, has been, or wishes to be a scholar, for forms in which to obtain, on behalf of the child, any of the following certificates, viz. :— A certificate of age: A certificate of school attendance: A certificate of proficiency: or for A Child's School Book combining these three certificates. Certificates of Age. 2. A certificate of the date of a child's birth will be granted by a registrar, or superintendent registrar of births and deaths in a form prescribed for the purpose by the Local Government Board, pursuant to the 25th section of the Elementary Education Act, 1876. The fee for such certificate is not to exceed 6d. 3. When a local authority, under the power given by the 26th section of the Elementary Education Act, 1876, have obtained a return of the births of children in their district which will enable them to grant age certificates to individual children, they shall, on the application of any parent or other person interested in the education or employment of a child, grant such certificate under the hand of their clerk, or other officer deputed for the purpose, for a fee not exceeding 4d. for each child. This certificate is to be given The Regulations printed in italics are those contained in the Order of the 2nd of April, 1878. either on a special form' or in the Child's School Book referred to below. (Regulation 20.) 4. A register shall be kept by the local authority of the name, parentage, date of birth, and residence of every child to whom a certificate of age is granted under the preceding regulation. Certificate of School Attendance. 5. The parent, or any other person interested in the employment or education of a child under 14, may require the principal teacher for the time being of any certified efficient school, which such child has attended, to furnish a certifioate specifying the number of school attendances made by the child in the School during each year, since the age of five, for which the school registers are preserved. 6. The teacher shall grant such certificate in a form prescribed by the Education Department, in the first case free of charge, and for a fee not exceeding 1d. for each year's attendances entered in the second or any subsequent copy of the original certificate, that may be demanded in respect of such child." 7. The school registers of every certified efficient school shall be carefully preserved by the managers for at least ten years, and any teacher taking away or destroying such registers may be dealt with as under Regulation 25. If a school is discontinued, the registers are to be handed over to the local authority of the district. 8. In the month of January in every year the managers of every certified efficient school shall forward to the local authority of the district a list drawn up by the teacher and countersigned by them, showing the name, residence, and age of every child above five years of age who has attended the school for any number of days, however few, in the course of the year ending on the preceding 31st of December, and the number of attendances, after the said age, made by the child in that year.3 9. The local authority will preserve these lists for at least ten years. They will be a check on the certificates granted to individual scholars by teachers, and will enable the local authority, if necessary, to dispense with the production of a child's certificate, if any question should arise as to such child's qualification for employment. 10. These lists will also, if a family migrates from one district to another, enable the local authorities of the two districts to communicate with each other as to a child's qualification for employment, so far as previous schoolattendance is concerned, if he is unable to produce his own certificate on this point. 1 For form of certificate of age, see p. 478. For form of certificate of school attendance to be given by teacher, see p. 479. The Local Government Board have stated that as the duty of preparing the annual returns provided for by this Article is imposed upon the teachers of schools by the Regulations of the Education Department, it appears to the Board that a school attendance committee cannot properly remunerate the teachers for discharging the duty. |