View report page

115
Pupils in attendance at special schools or units are periodically examined to ensure
that the special educational treatment they are receiving is still suitable to their particular
degree of disability. Details of the results of such examinations during 1953 in respect
of educationally sub-normal pupils are as follows:
Boys Girls
Recommended no longer E.S.N. 61 41
Ineducable 38 35
Transfer from day E.S.N, school to
boarding E.S.N, school 19 6
To continue E.S.N, school 64 39
In addition 416 pupils were recommended after medical examination for reporting
under section 57(5) of the Education Act, 1944, as requiring supervision after leaving
school, and four pupils examined under Section 8 of the Education (Miscellaneous
Provisions) Act, 1948, were found to be suitable to attend schools for the educationally
sub-normal.
Schools for
' delicate
children '
Open Air Schools have undergone several re-valuations since their introduction
in 1908. For the first years the children referred suffered from 'debility' which figured
so largely in the care of children of this period. Anaemia, chronic skin and pyogenic
infections were a too frequent accompaniment of the prevailing social and economic
conditions. Tuberculosis and the concept of the 'pre-tuberculous' child led in London
to the creation of separate schools for these and for non-tuberculous children which
persisted until 1939. Several of the schools were destroyed by bombs and the drawing
up of the London School Plan and its subsequent revisions have led to critical reassessments
of the functions of these schools. They have been attacked on three grounds;
first that because of their construction and use it was difficult to develop satisfactory
educational techniques; secondly, that the type of child previously recommended for
these schools no longer existed in sufficient numbers to justify the continuance of these
special schools with their increased costs and staffing requirements; thirdly, that modern
school architecture produced schools that were every bit as good as the open air schools.
An examination of the grounds of the second criticism shows the seriousness of the first.
The kind of child referred by hospital and school physicians has changed and as many
as 50 per cent, in some of the day open air schools now have asthma or chronic
bronchitis, and it is not to be expected that these children will be ready to return to
ordinary schools after a term or two, so that the quality of education that can be provided
in the schools becomes of much greater importance. This has been met by the provision
of a permanent wall to each of the old open-to-the-elements classrooms and a completely
new method of construction for new buildings. As to the second, one can only
say that, unfortunate though it is, sufficient numbers of children are still recommended
for admission to these schools to provide substantial waiting-lists, though these are
composed of younger children than in previous years. The third criticism is rather a
matter for the future, for at present it is not possible to discontinue the use of these
older schools.
Speech therapy
Speech therapy sessions are held at 26 school treatment centres and, in addition, sessions
are held at 25 day schools for the educationally sub-normal, 15 day schools for the
physically handicapped, and at six residential schools. At the end of the year 1,039 pupils
were under treatment at these various speech therapy classes. New admissions during
the year totalled 531, and 274 pupils were discharged as either improved or cured.
237 pupils, most of whom had shown some improvement, ceased to attend the classes
for various reasons.
Reviewing the work done by the speech therapists during the year in the schools
for the educationally sub-normal, it has been found that fewer children coming into
J