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The 9.15 bell summoned assembly, and children lined up according to grades in the schoolyard. The Monday morning assembly was the ‘full affair’. At attention, students honoured the National Anthem; the boys saluted the flag; and the school, in unison, with right hand firmly placed over each heart, recited the pledge that has become inscribed in the memory of many:
I love God and my country,
I honour the flag,
I serve the King (Queen),
And cheerfully obey my parents, teachers and the laws.
The weekly school business and sports announcements over, the gathering was inspected. At 9.25, the grades marched into class, accompanied by kettle drums and bugles.
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Frank Tate encouraged the introduction of educational reforms during his years as Director of Education. Tate was intent on revitalising learning and freeing the schools from rote memorisation. Scholars in the infant grades, he argued, should be exposed to many and varied stimuli. Teachers must encourage individual mental development, stimulate intelligent thought and expression, and guide the students to think and act for themselves. Inspectors must help improve teachers’ methods rather than intimidate them and stifle experimentation. The senior grades would continue in this vein. Australian geography and history were increasingly nurtured. Nature studies were introduced, with an emphasis on excursions into the country to study geology, geography, nature study and history. New texts in all subjects were regularly adopted. In-service training was established to help teachers develop courses that ‘satisfied not only the intellectual and moral interests of a child, but also aesthetic and constructive interests’.23
The Fourth Class at Arnold Street, 1903. There are 81 boys in the class.
‘Physical training, including daily exercises, swimming, class drill and gymnastics, continued for the whole school. Yet, oddly enough, when Head Teacher Sebire appointed a Physical Training teacher in 1916, the Department refused to pay the costs."‘1 Tate’s attempt to reform spelling in 1912 for example, by dropping the ‘u’ in words such as ‘colour’ and introducing the use of ‘-ize’, ‘program’, ‘jail’ met considerable community opposition, (although Sebire for one did adopt the suggestions), and was dropped.35 Promotion to the upper or ‘big’ school (grades 3 to 6) brought more advanced work in the same subjects. Graduates of grade 6, and after 1912 grade 8, were presented with a Merit Certificate, which had been introduced in 1890. The ‘Qualifying. Certificate’, introduced in 1911, allowed the recipient to continue to higher elementary studies. The top two students of the school were awarded gold and silver medals respectively.36
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