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It is the intention of centre training to have regard to the whole
personality of a child and eventually to prepare him/her not only
for undertaking employment but also to encourage the use of leisure
hours to advantage.
3. Special Care Unit
With the object of accommodating 12 very severely retarded
children suffering from other handicaps, this unit must also be
considered as a training unit in that children are being helped
towards greater independence. On admission at the age of 5 or
6 years, some children are still bottle-fed and a great deal of
skilled and patient teaching is required to assist them to surmount
the physical handicaps which make self-help so difficult.
This group, perhaps above all others, needs to be taught leisurehour
activities in order that the many hours spent by its members
in wheelchairs at home may, in fact, be those of leisure and not
of boring deleterious idleness.
Since the inauguration of this training unit, success has crowned
the efforts of the staff in creating a stimulating and happy atmosphere
and an environment within which children are given the
best of opportunities to assimilate and adjust.
It is not surprising that, with such an avant garde establishment
as this centre undoubtedly is, visitors are attracted not only from
this country but from Europe and America and its influence on
the design of other authorities' new centres has been significant.
Furthermore, it has played an important role in re-orientating
attitudes both of lay and professional workers who are associated
with such training centres.
Blackwall Industrial Training Centre
This building, which is bright and airy with good central heating
and a well equipped canteen, originally catered for 36 persons but,
with the intervention of the Factory Inspector, this has now been
reduced to 25.
With a number of the more accomplished trainees transferring
to the new adult training centre at Tunnel Avenue and the difficulty
experienced by the Supervisor in obtaining less repetitive and
more remunerative work, this Centre has not been as successful as
one could have wished during the current year.
It is the aim of the Centre where possible to bring the standard
of ability of trainees to such a level that they can compete in the
open market. When this object proves unattainable, the policy is