Ashbury College - Ashburian Yearbook (Ottawa, Ontario Canada)

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QS THE ASI-IBURIAN this was followed by an address, Problems facing the teacher of English . given by Mr. john Stevens, provincial inspector for the Min- istrv of Iiducation. This was a brilliant session, stimulating and en- cotiraging. The remainder of the conference was devoted to a series of small meetings which covered such subjects as: Should the top man on the staff teach the weaker students, or should all his time be devoted to the brilliant ones, the responsibilities of teachers, visual aids. The Maths and Science Conference, held at St. Andrew's College was attended by Mr. Daratha from Ashbury. The meeting opened with a panel discussion. About thirty visitors tossed leading questions to the panel which was composed of Mr. Bates of the Department of Education, Mr. MacLaren of Pickering, Mr. Griffin of Lakefield, and Mr. Turgeon, a principal of one of the Aurora schools. The afternoon session produced two interesting lectures. Mr. Scholes of the Bell Tele- phone talked about the harnessing of light for the purposes of com- munication. Professor Allen of the University of Toronto discussed the structural approach in teaching chemistry. The conference ended with an analysis of the teaching of science to Grades 9 and 10. The Conference of Modern Language Masters of the Independent Schools was held at Appleby. The morning session was divided into two parts. To begin with the language laboratory in use at Appleby was explained and demonstrated. Its value was discussed and our representative was impressed with much that it had to offer. This was followed by a discussion of the possibility of a final Grade XII examina- tion in French common to all independent schools. After lunch the guest speaker, Miss M. H. Lake, presented her ideas on the teaching of French Authors. She is the co-author of one of the texts used at Ashbury. One interesting development was the possibility of hiring students from French universities as conversational assistants at our schools. NI. de Varent represented Ashbury at the meeting. The Bursar's Conference was held at Trinity College School, our Mr. Ielols attending. Here important, behind-the-scenes financial matters were discussed.

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THE ASHBURIAN 9, I-IEADMASTERS' CONFERENCE The Annual Headmasters' Conference was held at Pickering College, Newmarket in early january, 1963. The Xleeting was weil attended with newly elected Stanstead College represented for the first time. For the .Ashbury lleadmaster it was a particularly interesting exper- ience as this was where he taught for a period of thirteen years and of further interest because the present Headmaster of Pickering, Xlr. l larry Beer, was one of Mr. Perry's first students. i The Conference was well organized and the various meetings stimulating and quiet, in the Quaker tradition. Mr. A. B. R. Lawrence, Chairman of the Ashbury Board of Cov- ernors, attended a meeting and the final Conference Dinner. The new Executive consists of: Mr. Robert Coulter, St. Andrews College, President, Mr. G. XY. Smith, Lakefield Preparatory School, Vice-President, Mr. Harry Beer, Pickering, Secretary-Treasurer, Mr. R. H. Perry, Ashbury, Recording Secretary. The Conference will be held next year at St. Andrew's College, with Mr. Coulter as host. CONFERENCES Recently the Independent Schools have pooled information and exchanged ideas at a series of conferences which are usually held during the spring break. The headmasters set the pattern with an annual meeting some years ago, and now junior school heads, each academic department, and bursars have an annual conference. A report of Ashbury's attendance at some of these follows. fDetails of the Headmasters' Conference appear separatelyj. The junior School Meeting was held this year at Ridley. Repre- sentatives from twelve preparatory schools attended. A valuable pre- meeting session convened at the home of the new headmaster, Ted Pilgrim CAshbury '46J. The formal conference got under way the following day. A paper, Teaching of English , was presented by Mr. Saxton, head of the English Department of Ridley. Nlany valuable ideas were introduced and these were discussed around the table after Mr. Saxton's speech. The general meeting was after lunch and twenty- six topics covering all phases of preparatory school life were taken up in lively discussion. Mr. Polk was Ashbury's representative. The English Teachers Meeting met at Upper Canada College. Here Mr. XYansbrough and Xlr. Spencer were our representatives. The morning sewion was devoted Hrst to a discussion of school magazines,

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THE :ISHBURIAN 7 SCI-IOGL DANCES There was no formal dance this year as the lfaster examinations were postponed Cbecause of 'Hub to the time when the Spring Dance was to have been held. lt is probably the hrst time in the schools history that an overall profit has been made on the dances. .Xt the end of the four house dances. we had one hundred and fifty dollars in the kittv . Thanks should be extended to the students who ran the affairs. They being: Davidson, Copeland, Booth I, .-Xndrew, Xlerrett, XYhipps, and Smethurst. One of the dances held in january introduced a new twistll J. About sixty couples came with their skates and warm sweaters to savour our outdoor rinlts. before moving indoors to gvrate in Argyle. The idea was very successful and there were no cases of pneumonia recorded by Xliss Bray the following day. Several dances were held over at Elmwood, at which manv of us were pleased to attend. 2 2 nllfore: The Arlingtons. Rigbr: Go .Iohnl