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Special School Provision
(a) Day Special Schools
There are two day special schools in the Borough-Vale Road School for Physically Handicapped
Children, and the Blanche Nevile School for the Deaf. Units for partially hearing children at
Devonshire Hill Infants, Risley Avenue Junior and Drayton Comprehensive Schools are attached to
the Blanche Nevile School. The children at these units need special teaching because of their
hearing difficulty but are otherwise fully integrated with ordinary school life.
Of the 96 children on the roll at Vale Road Special School 61 were Haringey children and 35
children from other boroughs. Of the 136 children on the roll at Blanche Nevile School (including
the partially hearing units), 41 were Haringey children and 95 from other boroughs.
Day special school facilities for children in other categories have to be sought outside the
Borough. It is a matter of some concern that places must be sought for educationally subnormal
children at either Durants School or Oaktree School in Enfield or Oak Lodge School, Finchley. At
present there are 34 Haringey children at Durants, 35 at Oaktree and 80 at Oak Lodge. There are
49 Haringey children at present on the waiting list for admission to these schools. There is thus an
acute shortage of places available for children ascertained as educationally subnormal and an urgent
need for educational provision for these children within the Borough.
The other categories of handicapped pupils requiring day special schooling are placed mainly
in the following schools outside the Borough:-
Partially sighted Joseph Clarke School, Walthamstow or
New River School, Islington
Delicate Hazelbury Open Air School, Edmonton
(b) Residential Special Schools
The one residential special school belonging to the Borough is Suntrap Open Air School at
Hayling Island, Hants. This school accepts delicate and physically handicapped children, most of
whom are cases of asthma, rheumatic heart, minor degrees of emotional disturbance, and varying
degrees of nervous and physical disability. There is a resident staff including a night nurse. A
medical practitioner attends twice a week and a dental officer once a week.
The School accepts boys at primary school age, i.e. 5 to 11 years and girls of all ages. The
number of children placed at Suntrap at the end of 1968 was 95, of whom 14 were Haringey children
and 81 from other boroughs.
The following were the defects for which the Haringey children required placementAsthma
6; Bronchitis 3; physical and nervous debility 2;
Recurrent Cystitis 1; Lead Poisoni ng 1; Nervous loss of appetite 1
Blind children are placed at special residential schools, mainly at Gorton House School,
Sevenoaks, Linden Lodge School, Wimbledon, or Blatchington Court, Seaford.
Children in other handicapped categories who require residential schooling are placed in
schools administered by other local authorities or independent bodies, apart from epileptic children
who are placed in hospital special schools. The only category involving a large number of children
is that of maladjusted pupils.
Hospital Classes
I am indebted to the Chief Education Officer for the following report:-
"Tuition for in-patients of St. Ann's ana Prince of Wales's General Hospitals has continued to
be provided during the past year by two full-time teachers.
A significant improvement in the teaching facilities has been made by the Hospital Authorities
in extending to the ceiling, the partition walls of the class-room in Ward M.1., thus eliminating
general noise from the ward. The Staff of the Hospitals are, as always, most co-operative.
The average number of children receiving tuition during the year was 35."
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