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55
The actual number of children away at these schools at one time in 1935, was :
Bushy Park, 280; Margate, 60; St. Leonards, 63; Bournemouth, 30; Broadstairs,
20; Hastings, 12; Sandon, 20. Total, 485 children, of whom 205 were girls and
280 boys.
The experimental camp school for mentally defective children at Loughton was
initiated owing to the desire to give the children in the special schools the same
advantages as those enjoyed by the children of the ordinary elementary schools.
With the assistance of the Shaftesbury Society, arrangements have been made upon
a permanent basis to conduct a residential open-air school at the Society's premises
at Sandon Home, Chelmsford. It is intended that the benefits of this home shall
not be confined to children from the schools for the mentally defective only, but
shall be extended to other classes of special school children, including the physically
defective and the partially deaf. The accommodation is for 20 children, and it is
proposed to send from 120 to 200 children a year. The home was opened for the
purpose on 26th October, 1935, when 20 mentally defective girls went for a stay
of four weeks.
The head master of the King's Canadian residential open-air school has
submitted the following account of the physical activities:—
The school roll for the year was 2,813 boys, all of whom received the usual type of physical
training in accordance with an approved syllabus. In addition to this normal class-work, 1,480
of the number came under the special care of the two physical training specialists for strengthening
exercises and a further 402 boys received treatment in the following groups:—kyphosis, 182;
lordosis, 40; scoliosis, 37; flat feet, 118; mouth breathers, 25.
Much benefit accrued from the exercises taught and many of the old boys who have visited
after leaving school show that improvement has been continuous. The other activities of the
school, walks, gardening, hygiene, health talks and social life, have all helped in this work.

The length of stay at residential open-air schools was raised on the presentation
of a report by Mr. G. H. Leslie, district inspector, and Col. E. Eton, special services
branch of the education officer's department, on their visit to the residential open-air
school at Knocke, Belgium. The Special Services Sub-Committee instructed the
chief inspector to report upon the length of stay at residential schools. At Knocke
the stay is 12 weeks, while at the Council's open-air residential schools the stay
varies from four to six weeks. The system of admission is also different in that at
Knocke, at the end of the 12 weeks' period, all the children are discharged and
replaced by an entirely new complement.
The chief inspector set up an inter-departmental committee to consider the
question, and their report is now under consideration.
The present position in regard to length of stay is : Council's schools—King's
Canadian (Bushy Park), 4 weeks in summer, 6 weeks in winter; George Rainey
(St. Leonards), 6 weeks; Wanstead House (Margate), 6 weeks. Non-Council
schools—Fairfield House (Broadstairs), 12 weeks; Russell Cotes (Bournemouth),