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Types of school starting with P

Provisional School (1867-1957)

An elementary school which first emerged in 1867. A Provisional School could be established in areas where at least 15 children, but fewer than the 25 required for a Public School, could be expected to attend. Parents provided the building and furniture, while the Council of Education or later the Department of Education paid the teacher and supplied books and equipment. During the 1880s the minimum number of children required was reduced to 12; from 1898 the minimum was 10, and from 1945 it was nine. After 1882 there were provisions for the Department to provide all or part of the cost of buildings, but well into the twentieth century parents often met most of the cost. The schools were generally staffed by untrained teachers or by teachers of the lowest classification. Gradually they became in effect simply small Public Schools, and in November 1957 the remaining ones were converted to Public Schools.

Public School (1848-)

The basic elementary school in the New South Wales education system are known as National Schools from 1848 to 1866 and as Public Schools since 1867. Originally the attendance of 30 children was required for the establishment of a school, but this was reduced to 25 in 1867 and 20 in 1880; in 1957, when Provisional Schools were converted to Public Schools, the minimum figure was reduced to nine. Until 1875 parents had to pay one-third of the cost of buildings, but the Council of Education and then the Department have since met the total costs. Until the 1880s there were no government secondary schools, and no official post-primary courses in Public Schools. But the 1880 Act recognised the presence at school of numbers of children who had completed the primary course, by providing for the establishment of Superior Public Schools with primary and post-primary courses, and for separate High Schools. After 1913 many Public Schools incorporated one or more distinct secondary departments or ‘schools’. The modern development of High Schools has meant that, with some exceptions like the Central Schools, most Public Schools now offer only the primary course.