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The Royal Commission on the Blind, the Deaf and Dumb, etc., already referred to
above in connection with blind children, was appointed in July, 1885, and its report was
issued in 1889. This report recommended legislation, the need for which had already
been pointed out to the Education Department by the London School Board. The
recommendations of the Royal Commission were embodied in the Elementary Education
(Blind and Deaf Children) Act, 1893, which cancelled the permissive powers
(except in regard to pauper children) of the Poor Law Guardians to teach and maintain
deaf children, and laid down the duty of the school authority to make special provision
for blind and deaf pupils, and gave power to enforce attendance, which was compulsory
for deaf pupils from the age of seven years up to the age of sixteen years.
In 1902, a residential school for deaf pupils who also had another handicap was
established at Homerton and by 1905 there were ten special schools or special classes in
ordinary schools, and two deaf boarding schools and a boarding school for deaf children
who were suffering from some second defect. Many of those children admitted to the
classes and schools as deaf would not require admission today, because (i) the advances
of medicine and surgery and their availability to school children have eliminated much
of the deafness which was then due to discharging ears, the after-results of respiratory
infections, and partly because of (ii) improved treatment and of changed classifications
in what constitutes deafness from the educational point of view.
The Homerton School for the Deaf instituted for many years a holiday camp at
Osea Island, with great benefit to the pupil. The removal in 1921 of the Homerton
School (now Rayner's School) to Penn in Buckinghamshire was part of the same policy
of trying to mitigate the disadvantages of deaf children by giving them a healthy and
happy environment.
It has long been appreciated that if the partially deaf child is to retain and develop
speech he should have educational methods different from those for the deaf, and
separate facilities provided, about which more information is given later. Before 1947
these children attended special 'hard of hearing classes' but since that year they have
attended special' partially deaf units' in ordinary primary schools. The aim is to return
these children, if possible, after six months to two years in the unit, to the ordinary
day school, where, with hearing aids, they may become almost normal pupils.
Partially deaf pupils did not form a separate category of handicapped pupils for
whom local education authorities had to provide special educational treatment until
the Handicapped Pupils and School Health Service Regulations (1945) came into force.
As ' special school pupils', partially deaf children remain at school until the age of
16. Earlier Education Acts did not specify the category of 'partially deaf pupils' and
so, even when such children attended a 'hard of hearing class', their school leaving
age was the same as that of normal school pupils.
In London there are four day schools for deaf children of both sexes from the age
of 5 to 13 years, and at each of the schools there is a nursery section for children from the
age of 2 to 5 years. At the age of 13 the children are transferred to boarding schools, one
for boys and one for girls, where all children remain until the age of 16 years. Some continue
to the age of 18 or 19 years. The size of each class is limited to 10.
The majority of deaf children now attend school from 2 years and upwards, and
there is a growing appreciation on the part of parents of the value of early education.
As already stated, at the age of 13 years the children are transferred from the day
schools to separate boarding schools for senior boys and girls up to the age of 18 or 19.
The Council maintains two boarding schools, one for each sex. Vocational (trade)
training for children up to the age of 16 is gradually being discontinued so that full-time
classwork (speech, lipreading and development of language) may be maintained. Provision
is made, as in secondary schools for hearing children, for practical subjects—
handicraft for boys and housecraft and needlework for girls. Upon leaving school,
employment is found in any appropriate type of work not involving normal hearing.
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