The 1932 School Magazine

If a secondary school is to succeed in its object, a gradual change should become noticeable as a boy passes through the school. This change should consist not only in increasing knowledge but also in a desire for more learning, and in a growth of sportsmanship and public spirit.

A Public School ought to produce not mere mechanical scholars, but boys anxious to learn, anxious to play well, and anxious to behave sportingly. Examinations, unfortunately, have to be kept in view, but should never be allowed to dominate the pupil's outlook on school life. A medium must be struck between work and sport. On the one hand, enough school work should be done to make the pupil glad of a holiday, yet equally pleased to return to work after it; on the other hand, sport, though it should be taken seriously, ought to be followed in moderation, and we should always keep in mind the old Greek ideal of excelling merely for the honour of the laurel wreath, and not for personal advantage.

By regulating a boy's course thus the Public School holds the destiny of the nation in its keeping, for future leaders and future guides must, in the main, come from it, to control and direct their country.

Could every boy be made strike this happy mean, then, indeed, would a school be able to claim success, for it is surely by the standard of the young manhood which a school produces rather than by examination figures or sporting results that its usefulness should be gauged.

The 34th Annual General Meeting (November 1932) was chaired by the retiring President, Mr. W. T. Evans ("It gives me much pleasure as president of this association…"), supported by Vice-President Mr. W. H. Austin and Hon. Secretary Mr. J. G. Nowlan. The meeting elected Mr. W. H. Austin as President for 1932–33 (a speaker expressing "regret at not being able to keep Mr. Austin out of office for another twelve months"), and again paid warm tribute to Mr. Nowlan's tireless work as Hon. Secretary.