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Linden Lodge was one of the two residential blind schools opened by the London
School Board in 1902. Numbers, which were very small at first, gradually increased.
The functions of the school remained unchanged until 1934, when, upon the closure of
all day schools for the blind in London, it had of necessity to widen the scope of its
work by taking in the displaced blind boys. Henceforth it became an all-age school for
blind boys, the majority of whom were resident. Elm Court School, West Norwood,
the corresponding school for girls (also opened by the London School Board in 1902)
then completed the Council's school provision for the blind. During the war of 1939-45,
both schools were evacuated. After the war, the boys returned to Linden Lodge, but as
Elm Court had been bombed, the girls, who had been evacuated to the Barclay School
for the Blind at Brighton (later removed to Sunninghill in Berkshire) were without a
home. Upon the reorganisation of schools for the blind and partially-sighted after the
war, the Barclay School became exclusively a school for partially-sighted. The blind
girls therefore sought hospitality with the Royal London Society, which during the
war had moved its school from Swiss Cottage to Dorton in Buckinghamshire. Here
they remained until 1949 when the Council purchased North House near Wimbledon
Common to which they returned. Henceforth the boys' and girls' schools were
amalgamated administratively and educationally as one all-age mixed school for the
blind under one Principal. The older girls live at North House but are conveyed daily
by a special bus to join the boys at Linden Lodge for lessons. The younger boys and girls
up to the age of about ten years both live and have their lessons at North House. The
Council has recently purchased Clevedon, a private house near North House, for use
as a hostel by the older girls.
An ophthalmic surgeon visits Linden Lodge and North House every term and sees
each child at least once in six months and the younger children three times a year. As a
general rule any child in need of treatment is referred back to the hospital to which
his parents may have been taking him prior to his admission to the school. Should he
have no such hospital, he is referred to the Council's consultant ophthalmologist who
makes the necessary arrangements.
Partially-
sighted
children
Under the Elementary Education (Blind and Deaf Children) Act, 1893, the expression
'blind' meant' too blind to be able to read the ordinary school books used by children.'
Included in the category of blind children were semi-blind, high myopes, etc.
Before the establishment of special schools for the partially-sighted, the only
specialised form of education available for partially-sighted children was given in the
schools for the blind.
Mr. N. Bishop Harman (later the Council's consultant opthalmologist) was appointed
as an oculist by the London School Board on 29th May, 1903. As a result of examining
the eyes of the children in the London schools for the blind he found that many of the
pupils were not in fact, blind, but had been placed in these schools because of high
myopia. Dr. Kerr requested that a copy of the findings should be presented to the
Second International Congress of School Hygiene, held in London in 1907. In his report,
Mr. Harman stated that since these children were not blind, they should not be in a
blind school, but, rather, should be given special educational facilities adapted to their
needs. This report aroused great interest.
A differentiation in the educational curriculum of blind and of partially-sighted
children was first made in 1907 when the Council arranged to give instruction in
reading and writing from large types at a distance of one metre, instead of in Braille,
to children in their schools for the blind who were suffering from high myopia, but
who were not actually blind.
The first special class for high myopes and children suffering from severe degrees of
defective vision was established in 1908 by the Council in Boundary Lane School,
Camberwell. This special class of 24 children constituted an intermediate group whose
education was carried on jointly by the staffs of the elementary school and of the
adjacent blind school. For oral work the partially-sighted children joined with fully
sighted children ; for manual work they received instruction from the staff of the blind
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