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MOUNT BARKER HIGH SCHOOL
ANNUAL BREAK-UP CONCERT.
The annual break-up -concert in
connection with the Mount Barker
High School took place in the Mount
Barker Institute on Tuesday ■ night
last, when the hall was filled to the
doors with interested parents and
friends of the performers. An ex
cellent programme. had been ar
ranged, and one and all of the pupils
appearing acquitted themselves splen
didly. - The arrangements in the main
were in the capable hands of Miss
(Jlayer, and that lady is deserving of
commendation for die excellence" of
the entertainment. The two dances
performed were highly creditable both
to the teacher and the scholars, while
the dramatic work, although done by
novices, was good. The programme
opened by Miss Nellie Woods playing
one of Beethoven's Sonatas (Op. 22),
and the little lady, who is a brilliant
scholar. performed her task creditably.
A bracket of part songs by the school
•noir—".Song on May morning"' and
"Buzzing bumble bees,'' was well
done, the three parts being well bal- j
anced and sustained throughout. Miss j
Marjorie Lane recited "The highway- j
man" splendidly, and ' her effort i
brought from the audience an empha- j
tic encore, to which she responded I
with "The psalm of life." A number I
of the primary girls contributed two ]
dances, and both were excellently
well done. The costumes of the
young ladies were simple' but pretty,
and the loose, high-waisted frocks lent
themselves to the proper performance
of both. The item had to be re
peated.
The Headmaster, Mr. J. E. Smith,"]
B.Sc, who took a great interest in the j
pieparation of the pupils for the concert,1
and who worked very hard behind the
etage, presented his annual report as
follows:—
Ladies and Gentlemen—Once again I have
much pleasure in recording some of our do
ings at the High School, and in giving ex
pression to some of our inspirations and hopes.
The year has not been one of unqualified
success, for ill-liealtli lias had its way; the
usual minor ailments were amongst the stud
ents, but one, much more serious, ended in
the death of one of our lads. Cheerful in
temperament, of a bright and happy disposi
tion, he must be missed at home, as he is
at school. Our warmest sympathy is with
liis relatives. Two members of the staff
"broke down," as the saying goes, and that
meant a serious disarrangement of our work,
which wc hope will not be reflected in the
examination just over. In my last report I
think I expressed the hope that our numbers
would reach the hundred this year; that was
not realized—the limit was US. With 79 on
the roll now, surely the 100 will be readied
next year, and so prove the truth of. one of
the original mover's statement at. the estab
lishment of the school.
But our great trouble is that so many come ,
to school just until they are 14 years old,
and then leave. This year 18 left during j
the course of their flrst year; six or seven
more will leave at Christmas, and that means |
half of the first year's scholars have left with
in the year. That state of affairs is very
discouraging to the teachers. Every day and
everywhere the advantages of education arc
being demonstrated; the press; our public
men, uphold it; universal recognition is ac
corded with the mouth; but unless the stu
dents are'left at school our efforts lose much
.of their effectiveness, and I would once again
appeal to parents and others to give their
children the benefit of the complete four
years' course.
Our successes in the University examina
tions last year, though not very high in
numbers, were of excellent quality. One sat
for the Senior and passed the examination in
six subjects; six passed the Intermediate in
six subjects, two of these with credit, and
four passed in five subjects each. Of those
who passed with credit, Nelly Woods had
five to her name—that is a school record, and
for so doing I propose to hand over to her
a gold medal kindly presented by an old
scholar—Mr. Wilf. Lauterbach—for such pur
pose as wc think best, and I think you will
agree that a better use could not be found
for it, or "a more deserving recipient.
Of course, whilst examination results play
a very important part in school life, neverthe
less our chief aims are not to pass students
for examination alone, but to broaden and
deepen the educational outlook by inculcat
ing right habits of thought, speech and action,
and good mental, physical and moral training
to fit them to become good citizens. Many
people say that such aud such things were
not- done in their day, and do not see why
they should l>c douc now. but' we must re
member that the world does not stand still;
our grandparents did not know of aeroplanes,
gramophones, and wireless. The outlook on
education has changed, the environment and
condition of people has improved; hence old
standards and methods must be replaced by
modern ones.
The out of school life has met with mis
haps—influenza interfered very much with
football and basketball, much to our regret,
and this terra cricket matches with outside
teams seem impossible to arrange. Neverthe
less, the school sports went with a good
swing; competition was much keener, and no
great runaways occurred. Max Buchanan
v.on the youngsters' events; Claude Thomp
son won the junior; and Max Sanders the
seniors. Claude Thompson "broke" two jun
ior records—he threw the cricket ball 83
yards (791), and in the long jump cleared
17ft. 4in. (16ft. Sin.).
In the "class athletic trophy" competition,
the Senior "Fublics" were victorious, and
hold the trophy for the current year. This
co npstXoa is especially interesting, as every*
one in the school takes part; also it is worthy
of . note that the average number of points
;i-nrc- ptr.gir! was 25.3 and per boy 23.5.
The work of the "domestic arts" side of
the .school deserves more than a remark in
U&ssing,. and 1 would like to commend to
parents -an exceedingly suitable career for
their daughters, uc.» a teacher;of,the domestic
arts. During their first and second year's
attendance at a high school the girls are
trained in cookery, laundry work, home man
agement and home duties; the work is prac
tical-' in character and scientific, in cxplana
itn explanation, and 1 can vouch that the tan
gible, edible results arc excellent. A career
that . fits' a girl to look after a home is .well
worthy of consideration, and our girls may
consider themselves fortunate in being trained
tinder Miss Fawcett, who, 1 regret to say,
is leaving us . for: work nearer her home; all
our good wishes.go with her.
The recent terminal examinations show that
thC'majority of first year students-will obtain
their pass to the higher class next year. I
cannot allow this time to go by without re
ferring especially to the unique successes ob
tained by Nelly Woods. In her primary
year her terminal percentages ran—96.
97.7, 96.9 per cent.; second year, 91.1, ^93 1
pier cent, and five credits in her Intermediate
examination. This year, the first year of the
leaving examination, her percentages are—
90.7, 81.6, and {>2.0 per cent;- average for
the three'years, 03.3 per cent. 1 can hon
estly say that I have never had the pleasure
of teacliing a more brilliant student. Not
content with this, she scored 55 points for
her class in the athletic trophy contest, en
abling them to win. As she has done this
for the honour of the school, the school in
j-eturn will place her name on the honour
board as the leader for the year.
The \oy to be so honoured has worthily.
Upheld our. school traditions—head prefect,
sports champion, football player, our only
-'candidate *or the leaving examination this
jtar—aud he is Max Sanders.
For those who are leaving I am going to
quote- the words of our Director, Mr. Mc
Coy : **The school offered opportunities for
youth to fit itself for life's work, and the full
est advantage should be taken of them. Any
student who remained less than two years
-was 'wasting time. His advice to those boys
and girls leaving .school was not to be like
a lobster :on the rocks, waiting to be washed
out by a chance wave, or to remain and die.
- The world was full of human lobsters, waiting
for - a wavp ' to push them along. Success in
life did not depend' on a chance wave, but
in long and thorough' preparation. No one
achieved greatness without working hard for
it. ' Oliver Wendell. Holmes divided the
human race in two parts—those going ahead
and doing something and those sitting and
asking why it was not done the other way.
He advised them to tackle work cheerfully and
not be groucbers. They would make mis
takes, hut should profit by them, for the man
'who never made, mistakes never made any
thing. Let them have confidence in them
selves, decide they could do as well as the.
other fellow, and then set to work to prove
This year has almost passed, and what th<
next year will bring forth no one knows,
Changes occur again in the staff, and Mr.
Prescott, after a short stay, goes to take up
his duties at St. Peter's, and may success
attend his efforts there.
In' conclusion, to the members of the stall
I offer my sincere thanks for the whole
hearted manner in which they have given ol
their best for the good order and working
ami success of the school, in and out of school
activities, and this evening's' entertainment,
1 think, proves what I have said—the success
belongs mainly to Miss Clayer. To each and
all 1 would like to pass on that old, old wish
—A Merry Christmas and a Happy New
Yiear—-and I do so.
A dialogue, "The • burglars," bj
Misses N, Woods ("Miss Elizabeth"!
and V. Theim ("Miss Caroline") was
splendidly done, and evoked roars ol
laughter from the crowd. Miss
Rudd's interpretation of MoSzkowski'
" Minuet" was highly' creditabje, an
the little artiste deserved all the aj
plause she got The next item—scai
dance,- "Pas de Voile" (Chaminadc
was one of thejbest items of the ever
ing. The senior girls were the pei
formers, and they were dressed i
black with gold trimming round th
bottom of the jumpers, and each ha
a gold scarf. The solo dance was pei
formed by Miss Thora Jacobs, wh
looked very dainty in an old gol
frock, relieved with black. She pei
formed her task in such a pleasin
manner that the little lady had t
do her dance a second time. Th
dance was very pretty indeed. Mis
V. Theim' scored a-great success fc
her humorous song, "The quack doi
tor," -and she had to reappear. Sh
was supported by Misses M. William
D. Sivious, M. Rogers, and R. Pe:
cock .as "sandwich5 men." Misst
Litchfield and Schultz contributed
pianoforte duet in a praiseworthy ma
ner. playing "Immer Wieder" we
The concluding item on the first pa
of the programme was'the singing (
parts) of Elgar's "Land of hope ai
glory," by the choir, and the choriste
repeated their former success. Aft
the interval the trial scene from Die
ens' "Pickwick Papers" was stage
and the various characters were pc
trayed as follows: Mr. Justice Star
leigh, A. Doley; Mr. Sergeant Buzfi
D. Yates; Mr. Skimpin, R. Shephar
Mr. Sergeant Snubbin, R. Wilson,
Phunky, H. Day; S. Pickwick, Es
M. Sanders; N. Winkle, Esq.,
Matthews; Mr. Perker, C. Simpi
Sam Weller, jun., -M. Litchfield; cle
of the court, J. Chapman; Mrs. El
Cluppius, N. Woods; Mrs. Bards
iV. Theim; foreman of the jury,
1 Thompson. Each and every one
the students performed their tas
creditably, and although many of the
taking part for the first time show
signs of nervousness, the audience w
lingly .forgave it and loudly applaud
the effort. The songs and chorus
were good, as was the dressing, a
altogether, teachers and scholars ali
haye every reason to be pleased :wi
their 1924 break-up concert.
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