View report page

109
PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY DEFECTIVE CHILDREN.—
At the end of the year the following Croydon children were under
treatment in residential institutions outside the borough:—
Blind children 3
Deaf children 3
Mentally Defective children 3
Until 1908 the Committee had a small deaf class attached to
Princess Road school but this arrangement was not found entirely
satisfactory as the total number of deaf children in the borough was
not sufficiently large to allow for the classification of the children
according to their educational needs. It was therefore arranged
to close the deaf class and to transfer the children to the Royal
school for Deaf Children, Margate. At the end of the year this
transfer had not been completed owing to difficulties raised by some
of the parents and the number of our children then at Margate does
not represent the total number for whom education is required.
With respect to the mentally defective children no further steps
were taken by the Committee during the year under review.
AUXILIARY CLASS.—In June, 1908, the Committee opened a
small class at Whitehorse Road for the reception of children whose
mental progress was retarded, and who could not be satisfactorily
dealt with in ordinary schools. As pointed out in the last annual
report, this class is intended for children whose education for one
reason or another has been neglected and for those who cannot be
taught to read and write without more individual attention than is
possible in an ordinary class. At the end of the year 15 children had
been admitted to the class, two of whom were subsequently withdrawn
for a time. Thanks to the industry of Miss Clapperton, the
results have been satisfactory, as at the present moment 8 out of the
13 children can already read, and there is every prospect that nearly
every child will be able to take its place in Standard II. of the ordinary
school at the end of twelve months, whereas when drafted into the
auxiliary class they were working in Standard O, without any
immediate prospect of improving. As far as I am able to judge, the
work of this class would be even more satisfactory if further opportunities
for manual work and for varied occupations of one kind
and another were given. For this and other reasons I would draw
the attention of the Committee to the desirability of transferring
this class from Whitehorse Road to Grange Wood, where opportunities
could readily be afforded both for nature study and for
outdoor employment. This would not only give that variety of
interest which is so stimulating from the educational point of view,
but would enable the staff to work the class on open-air lines. This