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During the year nineteen pupils were ascertained as maladjusted. As
Table 10 shows, there are at present 18 children awaiting placement in
suitable residential schools. This is a marked increase over previous
years, and it is an unfortunate fact that there is a tendency for some of
these children to have to wait for a longish period before a suitable school
can be found. The opening of the Sir Cyril Burt School in 1971 will, it is
hoped, make marked inroads on this waiting period, but it will not solve
the problem entirely. There are two reasons for this, firstly certain children
of problem families would be better at residential schools at some distance
from their homes, and secondly a balanced intake of pupils will be necessary
for the new school to ensure that it provides the optimum therapeutic
setting for the children who attend there. The difficulty of placement is to
be the subject of discussion between the Health and Education Departments,
and it is hoped that next year's report will show a better position.
PHYSICALLY HANDICAPPED PUPILS
In Day Special Schools 114
In Residential Special Schools 15
Awaiting Placement 3
There were 18 pupils ascertained as physically handicapped and virtually
all of these pupils have been placed in appropriate schools, mostly
in St. Giles* day special school. It will be noted from the school report
which follows that the number of children suffering from spina bifida is
showing the expected steady increase, and the influx of severely handicapped
children into a building nor primarily designed for this type of
handicap must throw an extra burden on the school staff.
The total number of pupils at St. Giles' has not increased, however,
as the tendency is towards the less handicapped children, those with
asthma being a good example, remaining at ordinary school. How far this
movement will go to counter balance the expected increase in survival of
the more seriously handicapped children will be an exercise in judgement
when planning the future of the St. Giles' School.
I am grateful to Mr. D.B. Pettman for the following report:—
St. Giles' Special School for Physically Handicapped Children
The school has continued its multifarious activities on behalf of the
children despite the increasing difficulties foreseen in previous reports.