Report of Public Schools of Newfoundland
under Church of England Boards
for the year ended 31 December 1898
District of Random
Population 1,091; Grant $344.52
Visitation and Inspection:
To promote greater interest in educational matters, and to facilitate attendance at Board meetings, this very large District has been divided into the Districts of Random and Smith’s Sound, an alteration which came into operation on July 1st, 1898. With a grant of $344.52 five schools were opened for three months, and one or six months, and these chiefly the winter months. One school kept by the C.C.C.S at Lance Cove and that at Rocky Brook were the only two open at time of inspection. Both are kept by one teacher.
At Lance Cove twenty-three were present. Reading and Spelling were good in all classes, no so the Arithmetic and Writing – through somewhat of an anomaly – the same children gave correct answers to questions in Elementary Grammar and Geography. All were well classified and seemed interested. Generally results here are encouraging. A new school-room, built entirely by the people, adds to the comfort of all concerned.
Rocky Brook – On register, 30; average attendance, 21. The work here is of a more elementary character than that at Lance Cove. The Reading of four in Royal Reader IV., and of five in Royal Reader III, was good; copy books neat and clean. In Arithmetic none had advanced beyond simple multiplication. Irregular attendance and other drawbacks retard the teacher’s efforts to further progress.
General Statistics for year ended June 30, 1898
Community | Teacher | Pupils under 5 | Pupils between 5 and 15 | Pupils over 15 | Number of boys | Number of girls | Total pupils | Times the school has been opened. | Average attendance |
Northern Bight | Agnes Dawe | 37 | 18 | 19 | 37 | 200 | 30 | ||
Rocky Brook | Jacob Miller | 17 | 3 | 12 | 8 | 20 | 110 | 18 | |
Heart’s Ease | Delialah Balsom | 3 | 24 | 1 | 15 | 13 | 28 | 116 | 16 |
Hodge’s Cove | Delialah Balsom | 12 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 14 | 114 | 6 | |
Burgoyne’s Cove | Jacob Miller | 2 | 11 | 2 | 8 | 7 | 15 | 108 | 12 |
Transcribed by Wanda Garrett, August 2014
These transcriptions may contain human errors. As always, confirm these as you would any other source material.