BY ROBYN PARKES
Scott, Langford, McCallum, Dodson, Symes, Staples, and Hume are a few of the surnames of those who settled Golden Bay’s Long Plain.
The presence of settlers meant that there were children who required education so, in 1865, the Long Plain School was opened with Mrs McDonald acting as School Mistress.
Eighteen months after the opening, the inspector visited and reported that it was progressing nicely, and the school was commended in meeting the requirements of the community.
By 1869, there were 29 children attending under the tutorage of a new Master, Mr A Longton, but there were some concerns with the level of reading, writing, and arithmetic. An issue that plagued the school was the inconsistency of attendance, sometimes due to impassable creeks and streams when weather was bad,
Schools in the Nelson Tasman district were subject to annual examinations for each child to determine their progress and, in 1873, Long Plain School received a good report. The results satisfied the inspector, which he found surprising, as wet weather during the year had prevented many from attending regularly.
Laura Dixon was appointed school mistress in 1874 with a salary of £60 per annum.
A tragic event occurred in April of 1876 with the death of one of the teachers, Jemima Burt. Jemima had not arrived at school one morning and after a search party found her horse with a wet saddle it was feared that she may have fallen into the river as she tried to cross a ford. This was confirmed when they found her body about a mile below the ford.
By February 1879, it was noted that the school had fallen into a state of disrepair and neglect with a leaky roof, lockless doors and having insufficient and ill-contrived desks, so repairs were quickly arranged. Mrs Symes was the mistress at this time but left in the same year, replaced by Miss Haldane.
The inconsistency of the children’s progress continued. In 1880, the children were said to be backward for their age regarding education but the following year there were great improvements. Four years later, the parents were berated for the habitual neglect of the education of their children. Schoolmistress Clissold was complimented for her tutorage skills.
Head teachers came and went. In September 1888, a new school building was approved to be built of rimu with the tender from Messrs Webley Bros of £283,10sh being accepted.
Head teacher Miss Scott left the district in June 1897 and the same year a damning report was received from the chief inspector regarding the attendance of pupils along with statistics of 10 out of 23 pupils passing their annual examinations. Also of concern was that the school was said to be only open for 41 half days from December to April. Eight weeks were allowed for hop-picking holidays and prior to this there was a two-week period of no school due to flooding. A quick response came from Thomas Hume, chairman to correct the figures.
Around 1919, the school’s name was changed to Kotinga School, the roll grew and reports were more consistent until 1958 when the school was closed.
