Cylchgronau Cymru

ST. PAliL'S SCHOLfl FEBRUARY, 1899. PRICE ONE PENNY The Headmaster's Desk, St. Paul's School. January joth, l8gg. Looking back upon the last School Year, it will be profitable to consider our mistakes and short-comings, and how to avoid them in future. Our great draw-backs at present are (a) lack of sufficient accomodation (b) irregular attend¬ ance. With the first of these we have nothing to do—it is the duty of the School Board. But the question of attendance is a matter for the teachers and the scholars. And now I want the scholars to take up the matter in earnest. You know that the " irregulars " injure them¬ selves, damage the reputation of the School, reduce the Government Grant, and thereby raise your parents' rates. Every child who absents himself from School unnecessarily injures himself and robs his neigh¬ bour. It is a serious charge but it is quite true. I am sorry to say that the people who make arrangements for tea-parties and trips in connection with Sunday Schools are in a measure responsible for the bad attendance. They arrange the trips without once considering for a moment the harm done to the Schools and the scholars by the withdrawal of the children from our Schools for the day, and not only for the day ; in many cases it means two days, because the children are said to be too tired to come to School the day after the trip. Three years ago the Head Teachers of the Elementary Schools in Town made a respectful appeal to superintendents and Sunday School Committees to arrange that all trips should be made during the holidays. As a teacher in the Sunday School I am ashamed to say that the appeal was ignored or dismissed except in two cases. You will note that a number of our Scholars have been absent only once in the course of the year, and most of them have failed to gain the excellent merit mark because they have been tempted by Sunday School Committees. The attendance at St. Paul's School alone suffered from trips and tea-parties on ten different occasions last year. I sincerely hope that this year, Superintendents and others will consider the serious harm done to our Scholars in the Elementary Schools, and that they will endeavour to avoid it by having their treats held on the same day or some time during the midsummer holidays. Next year we hope to be able to publish the names of all the Sunday Schools where this has been done. I regret that many of our Scholars have failed to gain a prize this year because they have been ill, and in several cases laid up with fever. The regulations of the School Board are very strict, and the result is that some very good children have to suffer. List of Perfect Attenders for January. STANDARD I. (on Reg. G. 25, B. 32). Girts—Eliz. C. Davies, Nellie O. Davies, Ellen Davies, Gracie Jones, Bessie Jones, Ellen Jones, Lily Kaye, Katie Owen, Jennie Thomas, *Jennie Edwards, Maggie Plum- phreys, Gertrude Eliz. Jones, Winnie Leatt, Eliz. Parry, Norah Wynne. Boys—Owen J. Williams, Ellis Jones, Willie Owen, Laurie Parry, William Roberts, Llewelyn LI. Richards, Robert G. Roberts. William J. Williams, Robert Hughes, Richard Owen, Willie Davies, fNoah Jones, Willie Owen Jones, Laurie Casburn, Arnold Dargie, Harold Evans, Herbert Johnson, Morgan Jones, Willie Price Jones, Claude Luke, Robert Gwilym Owen, Robert Howel Pritchard. STANDARD II. (on Reg. G. 32, B. 74). Girh—Eliz. Martin Anderson, Mary Davies, Evelyn May Jones, Gertrude Littler, Edith McCarter, Emily Oare, Maggie Roberts, Blanche M. Williams, Ellen Williams, Ceridwen Williams, Louise E. Parry, Gwladys Richards. Boys—Thomas Davies, Griffith. John Owen, Hughie Jones, Charles Smith, Edward f. Buckland, William J. Davies, Emrys W. Davies, David W. Edwards, William Selwyn Mil ward, John Owens, William John Thomas, Robert Thomas, John O. Williams, John Roberts, John Pritchard, Henry Jones, Cadwaladr Jones, John Richard Jones, John Hand. STANDARD III. (on Reg. G. 53, B. 35). Giyls—Mary J. Butler, Nellie Davies, Winnie M.