AGY-6908 | New South Wales Correspondence School (Blackfriars)

Full description

In early 1916, the Inspector of Continuation Schools, S. H. Smith, inaugurated 'a new phase of educational work', the Correspondence school for children living in remote localities. (1) 27 members of 11 families living in 'widely-scattered parts of the State' were enrolled in the school during the year. The work grew so rapidly that, in October 1916, Smith appointed a teacher, W. A. Carter, to run the school. (2)

As the service expanded, lack of space in the Bridge Street premises of the Department of Public Instruction led to the division of the school into four separate correspondence schools. (3) In June 1924, these schools were consolidated and placed under a single principal (4) and accommodated in the former Blackfriars Public School in Chippendale. (5)

By the end of 1924 the school's enrolment was 2,294. (6) The teaching method involved the correspondence pupils working in three separate workbooks which circulated over five-day periods. At any one time, one workbook was being marked by the teacher, a second was in the post and a third was with the pupil. (7) From December 1935, the school published a magazine, The Outpost, as a 'connecting link between the pupils, ex-pupils, parents, supervisors, and the School, and each other ... with the School, its activities and its social services, as the focal point.' (8)

The school's peak enrolment came in 1959 when students numbered 7,420. (9)

To alleviate accommodation problems a new building in William Street was acquired and, in June 1965, the secondary department and clerical sections were moved from Blackfriars (10) with plans to have all sections transferred by the end of 1967. (11)

In December 1990, under a four-year Rural Education Plan to improve educational services for isolated and country children, the Correspondence School closed, to be replaced in 1991 by 17 Distance Education Centres. (12)

Endnotes
1. Report of the Minister of Public Instruction for the year 1916, p.52 in NSW Parliamentary Papers 1917-18 Vol.2, p.199.
2. Ibid., p.53.
3. J. Ramsland, Correspondence School, Blackfriars. Dictionary of Educational History in Australia and New Zealand (DEHANZ), 10 March 2015. http://dehanz.net.au/entries/correspondence-school-blackfriars/ (accessed 28 July 2016).
4. Report of the Minister of Public Instruction for the year 1924, p.3 in NSW Parliamentary Papers 1925-26 Vol.1, p.[137].
5. Ramsland, op. cit.
6. Report of the Minister of Public Instruction for the year 1924, op. cit.
7. Ramsland, op. cit.
8. The Outpost, Vol.1 December 1935, p.4. Reprinted September 1988. NRS 21056, Item [2] (1/10947.7).
9. The History of Distance Education http://www.sydneyh-d.schools.nsw.edu.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=16&Itemid=3 (accessed 28 July 2016).
10. Report of the Minister for Education for 1965, p.39 in NSW Parliamentary Papers 1966-67 Vol.1, p.665.
11. Report of the Minister for Education for 1966, p.38 in NSW Parliamentary Papers 1968, p.63.
12. Report of the Department of School Education for 1990, p.22 in NSW Parliamentary Papers 1991-92 Vol.14, paper 215.