Black Rock Primary School - 1960-1970

1960-1970

The Sixties was a decade that saw not only more building taking place but also much development and improvement of the school ground.

Sand drifting from bare parts of the grounds had been a continuing problem for many years and extending the asphalted area, planting trees and erecting a fence had not greatly improved the situation.

In 1961-2 the cleared area in the northern section of the school site was watered and fertilized, and the grass cut to prepare a playing ground. This work was continued until 1965 when the area before being resown was rotary hoed and a sprinkler system installed..

The stone retaining wall was built along Ferguson Street in 1961 and a pipe and wire boundary fence erected.

The Light Timber Construction (LTC) building containing the Art Room, two classrooms (Rooms 13 and 14) and an office was constructed in 1962, whilst in 1964 an electric bell was installed and the asphalt area was repaired and extended.

During the next two years the sheltershed near the oval was built and cricket practice nets and pitches were established.

In 1964 a girls' temporary wooden toilet building was erected near the golf course boundary fence. This was demolished in 1983 and replaced by two relocatable toilet buildings which remained until 1991 when the new permanent toilets were completed.

The brick building was extensively renovated and painted in 1967. Floors were renewed, platforms removed and display boards installed.

The following year the sheltershed and canteen that had originally been one of the open air classroom pavilions were demolished and replaced by a new structure with similar uses on the same site near the Bristol Building.

Cuisenaire as a structured aid for mathematics, SRA Reading Laboratories allowing students to progress at their own rates, and cursive script hand-writing were among the educational innovations that were being introduced at this time.

Teachers were versatile and in 1962 the librarian was in charge of the drum and fife band, conducted the school choir and worked as projectionist as well as performing her duties in the library. The band was used effectively at assemblies and was successful at the annual schools' festival in 1963.

In later years the art/craft teacher also trained the band as well as conducting such impressive oral language work during art lessons that the District Inspector commented on it in his report.

Other comments from the District Inspectors' Reports in this decade were "Most classrooms are free from any tense atmosphere and a casual attitude on the part of pupils is rare" (1962); "Pupils throughout the school have a very good attitude to their work, respond well to instruction and work at their tasks steadily" (1964); and "It is no longer necessary to emphasise involved exercises in traditional money tables. The dozen rule and the score rule are also assuming less importance as the introduction of decimal currency draws nearer" (1964).

Eight of the fourteen classes in 1963 had less than forty pupils, and the Art/Craft room operated with half grades for group activities such as clay modelling, book binding and wire construction.

Next: 1970-1980
Back: 1950-1960