NRS-16659 | Programme and Lesson Registers [Carrington Public School]

The earlier Lesson Registers in this series provide simply for a daily record to be kept of all subjects taught in a particular class. Volumes are pre-printed, with each double-page opening divided into columns headed by the names of the subjects in the curriculum. In the period from the 1880’s to the opening years of the twentieth century these include Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, Grammar, Geography, Object Lessons, Scripture Lessons, Drawing, and Vocal Music, with a final column provided under the heading “Other Subjects.” The content of each day’s lessons in each subject is briefly indicated in the appropriate column. Each opening is headed by the names of the school, the class and the teacher, with the average age of the pupils for that term or quarter and the date on which the teacher had taken charge of the class. All classes used the same format of register.With the passage of time a tendency emerges for teachers to break up the record into weekly sections. From 1906 this gives rise to a change in the pre-printed format of the Lesson Registers. The newer format provides one page for each week’s record, each page being divided into horizontal sections bearing the titles of the various subjects in the curriculum. These are now given as English, Mathematics, Nature Knowledge, Civics and Morals, Music, Art and Manual Training, and Physical Culture. A final section is provided, entitled “Special Remarks.”By the third quarter of the twentieth century further changes had been introduced. Rather than a current record of teaching actually done, the registers – now Programme and Lesson Registers – have become a programme of the teaching intended to be undertaken in each term, and are written up in advance of the term. Separate formats are now provided for Kindergarten and Primary grades. Each volume of the Primary register covered an academic year. There is an introductory page setting out the name of the school, the grade, the dates of the terms, the average age of the pupils, the name of the teacher and the date of assignment to the class. The volumes are sub-divided into terms. At the end of each term is an unstructured two-page section headed “Remarks.” The programme is otherwise set out in pre-printed pages. At the left-hand edge of each verso page is a column marked with week numbers. A four-page double spread is provided for each term’s programmes in English, three-page spreads for Mathematics and Social Studies, and single pages under the headings Health and Physical Education, Natural Science, Music, and Art and Handicrafts/Needlework. Each subject is further broken up under such sub-headings as (for instance) Literature, Language, Expression, any of which may be further broken down into such areas as Handwriting, Vocabulary Building and Grammar. A column for recording variations in the planned programme is provided at the right-hand side of each opening.The Kindergarten registers are in a similar, but not identical, format. There is a three-page spread for each term’s English programmes, and half- to one-page spreads for other subjects. With slight variations from year to year, the weekly programme is set out under the following subjects: English, Arithmetic, Natural Science (or Nature Study), Scripture, Social Studies, Music, Health Education, Physical Education, Art and Handicrafts (or Handwork), and Developmental and Creative Activities. The present series is currently represented by volumes from the years 1879-1883, 1888-1897, 1900-1908 and 1963-1967. All classes from Kindergarten to Sixth are represented, including Pupil Teachers from 1890-1894 and 1904-1906. Normally each volume is used for just one class, although, as long as the format permitted, one volume might be in use for that class over several years. In one instance (no. B8179), a single volume has been used for two classes simultaneously, and in another (no. B8186, old system 1/6708), a volume originally used with one class has been taken up again after a few years and used for another class.Most of the volumes currently held are essentially intact, although many of the older ones are battered and stained, and some are wanting their covers, but the Second Class Pupil Teacher’s Lesson Register for 1894 is fragmentary, and a Third Class Lesson Register from 1895 is represented by one leaf. These are held in a single folder of fragments, along with several loose, blank register pages.