to mention the excellent spirit of co-operation and helpfulness shown by the trustees of these schools. UNITED AND SCHOOL I must not fail to note the ever-increasing confidence and sympathetic spirit growing and developing between the trustees and the Departmental officers; and I feel it will be largely through this united effort that our problems will be solved and progress maintained. Strong and enthusiastic organizations in every municipality are regularly holding valuable meetings and intelligently discussing the needs of the day. Much is owing to them and to their officers for the success of the year. Many diverse elements have this year operated to reduce the record of attendance. Scarcity of labour, epidemics of children's diseases, moving of families from one district to another have been contribu ATTENDANCE tory causes; but the record is a fair one withal. All in all, the older pupils have been staying with the school better than in former years. I believe that as the school more THE PROGRAMME OF STUDIES AND THE closely conforms to the needs of the community, less difficulty will be experienced in keeping the older ones at school. We must give them more to do, as well as more to think. The teaching of the subjects of the programme must be better related to the activities of life, for both the boys and the girls. We may, however, congratulate ourselves that progress is being made on these lines. NEEDS OF THE Never were hopes brighter and organizations more co-operative for the success of the ensuing year than they are now. My thanks are tendered the officers of the Department for their kindly assistance in my work of the year. Respectfully submitted, W. C. HARTLEY. INSPECTORAL DIVISION No. 15. A. L. Young, Winnipeg. HON. R. S. THORNTON, Minister of Education, Winnipeg. Sir, I have the honour to submit the following report on the general progress of educational conditions in Inspectoral Division No. 15 for the year ending June 30th, 1917. This division as at present constituted includes the following territory: One new school district, in the eastern part of the municipality of Ste. Anne, was formed during the past year and re North Springfield School has recently been enlarged and now comprises Two Departments. The Trustees are J. McIntosh, A. Giffen, Harry George. quests for the formation of two new school districts in the eastern part of the municipality of Springfield have been recently received. The condition of school buildings in this division is, in the main, satisfactory. The majority of the buildings are comparatively new, having been built in recent years. Such buildings as are unsatisfactory are gradually being replaced by buildings of a more suitable character. SANITATION Considerable impetus has been given to the matter of school sanitation through the efforts of the Provincial Board of Health. In this connection excellent work has been done by Miss Mondor in the French settlements in the municipalities of Tache and Ste. Anne. The kind and sympathetic manner in which she has approached the problem of awakening an active interest on the part of parents and teachers in the physical welfare of the children under their charge has won the good will and sympathy of all with whom she has come in contact. INCREASE OF Owing to largely increased attendance, two teachers are employed in each of the following five districts:-Sunnyside, Melrose, Zora, St. Julien de Chambord, and the consolidated school of Hazelridge. The enrolment in Melrose and Zora is such that a third teacher is required in both of these schools. It is the intention of the Sapton School Board to build an additional school room and engage a second teacher for the coming school year. SCHOOL I found very few schools in which no attempt has been made to do some garden work and where no such attempt has been made it was generally found that conditions. over which the teacher had no control made it impracticable to do any work of this nature. Up to the middle of June last little growth was to be observed owing to cool weather and lack of rain, but a plentiful supply of moisture during the last half of the month improved matters greatly. During the months of August and September practically all the rural school gardens were badly overgrown with weeds, due to neglect during the summer holidays. The gardens in connection with Provencher School and St. Joseph's Academy in St. Boniface and the home garden work done under the direction of the teachers of Tache and King George V schools in Norwood are specially worthy of mention. Manual training under the direction of skilled teachers is taught in a thorough and efficient manner in the various schools of St. Boniface and excellent results are obtained in the development of habits of neatness, accuracy, etc. MANUAL The value of observing the inter-relation of one subject of the programme with others is shown by results obtained in these schools. No subject is taught as an isolated subject. Especially is this true in the presentation of handwork. Use is made of paper cutting, paper folding, modeling, basketry, colour, and drawing in the lower grades to illustrate stories and to teach number and measurements. In the higher grades, drawing in pencil and colour illustrate nature study, history, and composition. While boys gain a knowledge of mechanical drawing, practical geometry, and design in the manual training room, girls receive similar incidental instruction in sewing classes conducted by their regular teachers. By thus inter-relating subjects in school work the teacher increases his or her own efficiency and drudgery and indifference are. displaced by interest and attention. Woodwork and sewing have received considerable attention at Hazelridge, Dugald, Ste. Anne, Lorette, and other small centres, in accordance with the means at their disposal. BOYS' AND Boys' and Girls' Clubs are in active operation at the following centres-Hazelridge, Dugald, Ste. Anne, Lorette, Ste. Genevieve, and Thibauville. The annual school fairs held at the above centres have been most successful in every respect. The special success in this line of work at Ste. Anne was due to the efforts of Bro. Jules Ambroise, Principal of the Ste. Anne Boys' school, who devoted a large amount of time and energy to organization work in all the schools in his vicinity. THE LANGUAGE The teaching of English to pupils who have little or no opportunity of hearing English spoken, apart from what they hear at school, is one of the leading problems of this division. The majority of the teachers who are doing this class of work are much better qualified to deal successfully with this problem than were the teachers of former years and the tendency to depend altogether on reading and translating in the teaching of English has been practically abandoned. The results of the recent Grade VIII examination indicate very clearly that English is being well taught in the principal French centres and that Grade VIII work has been successfully taught in all the rural French schools where work of that grade was taken up. A very decided improvement has taken place in the teaching of reading during the past few years. Much of the reading |