Manawatū Conversations

Remai Hehir Part 3 of 3. Married in 1948, stopped teaching. Glen Oroua School. Class of 48 and then 40 children. Coping with the big age range. Getting married. Farming in Taikorea. Had 12 children, the last 2 were twins born 11 weeks early and one died. A daughter dying after falling out of a car. Family links to Taikorea School. Activities on a sheep farm in Remai’s childhood, scrub cutting scheme. Raising a large family, jobs for children. Now many in the family farming along Taikorea Road.

Remai Hehir Part 2 of 3. Sacred Heart schooling in Wanganui, 1930s. Centennial Exhibition in Wellington, 1939. Brother leaving school to help on the farm. To Teachers College in Christchurch, 1941, eventful journey. Peter Munz. Returning to teaching in 1970s, Oroua Downs. Earlier teaching experience at Glen Oroua. Getting to know future husband at WI dances. Women’s Institute. Songs at the dances.

Remai Hehir Part 1 of 3. Turning 100 soon. Born in Wanganui, grew up on an isolated farm, learning by correspondence. Felt the Napier earthquake. Shopping once a month. Limited socializing, no power (candles, primus, wood stove). Type of wood for baking. Imaginary friends. Boarding school in Wanganui from intermediate age. Getting a Ford car. First gramophone. A young farm worker.

David Bertram, Part 3 of 3. Work outside the classroom, marking and preparation. Maths and reading in the morning. Social life mainly with teachers. Sixtus Lodge. School holidays. Change from 3 to 4 terms. School camps. Small schools with several ages in the same class. Maths. Childhood school experiences, teachers and their knowledge of their subjects. Co-educational schools. Cadets. School uniforms.

David Bertram, Part 2 of 3. Record keeping in schools, the “brown card”. School reports, attendance, parent-teacher interviews. Balancing the rolls. Pupil turnover. Assessing teacher performance by student marks. Streaming. Teachers supporting each other. Management units. Pay structure, country service, bonding. Changes in teacher training. PN Teachers College merged into Massey University.

David Bertram, Part 1 of 3. Started at an intermediate school in Palmerston North, 1967. Surnames only, workbooks, extent of syllabus prescription, bulletins, School Journals. Manual periods, woodwork, etc.. Free periods, relieving. Discipline. Bullying not an issue. Small schools and mixing over ages. Bullrush, climbing trees, risk taking and learning limits. Blowing a bird’s egg. Pupils different in later teaching years, rights, social differences. Migrant children. Single parent homes.

Jensine Krogh, Part 3 of 3. Horowhenua College top stream, wanted to be a teacher and a florist. Competitive class. 2nd stream more relaxed. Mixed ethnicity school, Maori, Pakeha, Chinese. Planting and monitoring the weather at primary school. Teachers College. Changes in teaching. Use of phonetics. Monrad and PNINS, then relieving for primary schools.

Rural life in Otaki, neighbours, change of interests. Handling horses. Moving onto own farm. Father’s gardening using the moon for planting times, commercial flower growing. Mowing lawns. Sunday School feasts. 10 years at Ohau until married at 21. Phone messages for neighbours. Limits of large classes. An oral history interview looking at the past and present of Palmerston North and the Manawatū, produced by Manawatū People's Radio with the support of New Zealand On Air.

An oral history interview looking at the past and present of Palmerston North and the Manawatū, produced by Manawatū People's Radio with the support of New Zealand On Air.

An oral history interview looking at the past and present of Palmerston North and the Manawatū, produced by Manawatū People's Radio with the support of New Zealand On Air.