Extract from the "Duties of Local Superintendent " Members and Officers of the Board..... Contents..... Introductory Remarks I. Summary of Schools, School Days, Teachers, Number and Attendance, and Cost of Pupils. II. Subjects of Instruction.. III. School Books in use IV. School Libraries.... V. Lectures VI. Examinations.. 1. The Combined Examination, Report of Examiners, &c. 2. Usual Summer Examination.. 3. Usual Winter Examination VII. Special Matters worthy of Record 1. Change of Schol Books 2. Mr. W. B. McMurrich's motion for a Select Committee, to petition the Legislature 49 3. Mr. W. B. McMurrich's motion for a Select Committee for revising the By-Laws of 51 4. Visit of Inspection by Committee on School Management 5. Report of a Meeting interested in the formation of an Industrial School. 52 62 6. The late Mr. Ketchum's Annual Bounty. 76 7. Continuance of Religious Instruction by the Rev. Messrs. Boddy and Baldwin... 76 76 77 ..... 77 9. Elizabeth Street School APPENDIX I. Table A. Respecting Teachers. B. Number of Pupils on the several School Registers. C. Analysis of Attendance at the several Schools D. Average Registered Monthly Attendance E. Average Monthly Attendance in the respective Divisions F. Number of Pupils instructed in various subjects. G. School Libraries-Volumes contained and Volumes issued .......... H. Comparative Statement of City Schools, under specific headings APP.NDIX II. A. Examination Papers at Combined Examination.... B. List of Pupils who received Scholarships, Prizes, and Certificates, as results of 80 82 82 83 83 90 92 92 93 99 C. Suminary of Certificates of Honour, distributed after the Summer Examination... 102 102 103 F. List of Books prescribed for the use of Pupils in the several Divisions... 105 G. Provisions of Hon. Mr. McMurrich's Bill respecting Election of School Trustees in ANNUAL REPORT OF THE LOCAL SUPERINTENDENT or PUBLIC SCHOOLS. TO THE CHAIRMAN AND MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF THE CITY OF TORONTO. GENTLEMEN, I have the honour to lay before you the following Report on the Common Schools of the City of Toronto, for the year 1868. In my last Annual Report I had occasion to observe that the year then under review had been the most prosperous in the history of the Schools under your charge. I have now the satisfaction to state that, during the year which has recently expired, the prosperity of the Schools has continued and increased. The net aggregate attendance has been 362 pupils in advance of that of 1867; the average monthly attendance has exceeded that of last year by 292 pupils, and the average daily attendance has exceeded by 201 pupils. The cost, per pupil, calculated on the basis of monthly registration, was five cents less in 1868 than in 1867; though, calculated on the basis of daily average attendance, it was about two cents more in 1868 than in 1867. This difference, however, will be regarded as not very significant when it is remembered that the estimate of the Secretary of the Board, as to the cost of maintaining the Schools for the year 1868, which is one element of this calculation, exceeds by $2,095, the estimated cost of the Schools in 1867. As I have now held the office of Local Superintendent of our City Schools for more than ten successive years, it will scarcely be considered out of place for me to take, in this Report, a brief retrospect of these Schools to that extent of time. Such a retrospect should comprehend, among other matters- 1. Our School population, School age, according to law, in this Province, is from five to sixteen years, while pupils up to twenty-one years of age are allowed to attend our Common Schools. Our laws do not provide for an annual or frequent census of our School population, such as is taken in many cities of the United States, and we are therefore left for the most part, to inference or to conjecture on this subject. Once, indeed, (in 1863), our board of School Trustees took, at considerable expense, a special School Census, which has often been referred to since by private and by official persons. In 1858, the general population of our City was proba bly about 45,000 persons, which total, according to the rule furnished at the Education Department, would give about 10,000, as our School population. Our general population now, exclusive of the military, is, in all probability, about 50,000 persons, and our School population, according to the rule referred to, is about 11,111. 2. School attendance is another obvious point at which our retrospect should glance. In 1858, the average registered monthly attendance at our City Common Schools was 2,522, and the average daily attendance was 1,987. For the year 1868, the average registered monthly attendance was 3,657, and the daily average attendance was 2,810, being 1,135 above the monthly average, and 832 above the daily average of 1858. Now the general population in 1868 being reckoned at 50,000, as compared with 45,000 in 1858; the proportionate monthly average attendance at our City Schools would be not 3,657, as it actually was, but 2,802; and the proportionate daily average attendance would be not 2,810, as it actually was, but 2,207; so that, regarding the subject of School attendance in this light, it affords much more ground for congratulation than for complaint. 3. School accommodation is another proper matter to be regarded in our retrospect. In 1858, in addition to the six large School houses situated severally on Louisa Street, George Street, the Park, Victoria Street, and John Street, there were two hired School rooms, one on Trinity Street, in the Ward of St. Lawrence, and the other on Givins Street, near the extremity of the Ward of St. Patrick; in both of which smaller Schools the male and female pupils were taught together. Instead of these smaller Schools, there were erected by the Board and opened in 1859, two commodious School houses, one on the corner of Palace and Cherry Streets, and the other on the corner of Givins and Cedar Streets; in both of which accommodation was provided for a separate male and female Department. During the same year there was also erected a separate and capacious building in connection with the Louisa Street School, for the accommodation of the primary divisions, male and female, of that School. In 1864, another primary School, having separate accommodation for boys and girls, was opened in two hired cottages on Centre Street, which School was superseded at the beginning of the year 1868, by the opening of the Elizabeth Street School, with two divisions in each Department. In Several of the School Houses, too; namely, in Louisa Street, in George Street, and in the Park, alterations have been made which have permitted a better distribution of the pupils in the several Divisions. 4. School sustentation and expenditure constitute the next subject to which I invite your attention. Throughout the last ten years, and, indeed, since the year 1851, inclusive, the Schools have been sustained by municipal assessment, aided by a Provincial grant. The principle expressed in this mode of sustentation is that the property of all shall be liable to the cost of the education of all. The School rate, as given in the details of the City tax papers, is generally about one mill on the |