An educator who brought drawing classes into the curriculum under her charge. Banks was appointed infant mistress at the Public School on Riley St in Sydney's Surry Hills in 1866 and remained there for 15 years. She exhibited the work of her students at the 1887 Adelaide Jubilee International Exhibition and the 1888 Melbourne Centennial International Exhibition, where it won prizes both times.
kindergarten teacher, was a Scot who was appointed infant mistress at the newly-established Public Kindergarten Infants School at Riley Street, Surry Hills, Sydney in 1866 and remained in charge for the next 15 years. Her children’s work was awarded a diploma and a bronze medal at the 1887 Adelaide Jubilee International Exhibition and a gold medal at the 1888 Melbourne Centennial International Exhibition. In October 1888 she took 150 children to the Women’s Industries and Centenary Fair in Sydney where they displayed their 'games, exercises and singing lessons’. In the Handbook for Teachers of infants’ schools and junior classes (Sydney, 1898) Miss Banks is credited with providing the school’s drawing lessons, although the whole book reveals her influence. She retired in 1917 and died on 1 September 1933 at her home, Avalon, in Cremorne.
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