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Before the war, it was not uncommon for boys who were giving trouble at home
to be admitted as 'care committee cases' to the Training Ship 'Exmouth'. Several
boys on probation from juvenile courts and others giving trouble at home were sent
for some weeks' stay at the King's Canadian School, Bushy Park.
During 1945 several proposals were received for individual children to be boarded
away from their homes. When such proposals were supported by inspectors of schools
and by the School Medical Officer, some of these children were sent, with the sanction
of the Ministries of Health and Education, to hostels for unbilletable or difficult children
established under the evacuation scheme.
It became evident soon after the passing of the Education Act, 1944, that the Council
would need to provide some establishments of its own for maladjusted children. The
first of these, Bredinghurst, was set up in South-East London to take boys of all ages,
although the age range has since been narrowed. The establishment is both school and
hostel, and boys who make reasonable educational progress soon begin to attend local
schools. At any one time, less than half the boys go out to school. Psychotherapy of a
specialised nature is provided for those children who need it, but a most important
feature is the work with parents, carried on both by the head master and the psychiatric
social worker. This work is designed to help the parents to understand the problems of
their disturbed children and to show them how the homes may be prepared to receive
the children once more whenever that is possible.
One such school was not enough and so, in May, 1950, a second school and hostel,
Dromenagh, was opened at Iver Heath, in Buckinghamshire. It is for boys and girls
of primary age and is smaller than Bredinghurst. Buckshaw House, near Sherborne, in
Dorset, has similar aims; but here the majority of the children, girls from 5 to 15, and
boys under 11, go out to local schools. Because of its distance from London, Buckshaw
House is not to be a permanent hostel-school. Five other Council boarding schools for
maladjusted children have also been opened.
The Council, in addition to providing places in its own boarding schools, also places
a considerable number in voluntary special schools and independent boarding schools.
When they are so placed the Council keeps in touch with their progress either by visits
by a Council inspector or by means of reports obtained on its behalf by the local
authority in whose area the school is situated.
Special educational treatment of maladjusted children must depend, not so much
on the nature of the symptoms shown, but on the underlying causes of the lack of
adjustment to the community in which the child lives. It is not easy to determine what
these causes are and only patient observation of the children concerned can give insight
into them.
The Council's first full-time day school for maladjusted children was opened at
Lilian Baylis School, S.E.1, on 11th January, 1954.
Those maladjusted children who do not require boarding education, and who
do not attend the Lilian Baylis School, attend day special classes. These classes are not,
as a rule, held on school premises and the children come to them usually for only part
of the week, attending their own school for the remainder. Their names remain on the
rolls of their ordinary schools. Where parents are reasonably co-operative, attendance
at a special day class may be very helpful to the child. Quite often maladjustment in the
home situation is accompanied by backwardness and unhappiness at school. Sometimes
the main symptoms may show themselves at school either in inability to get on with
other children or to accept any sort of teaching of the basic skills. As the child improves,
the attendance at the special class can diminish until the child is back 'full-time' in the
ordinary school, with increased confidence in his ability to learn, improved skills and
great ability to make friendly relationships with others.
Classroom technique for maladjusted children must be based entirely on the needs
of the individual. Remedial teaching is commonly needed and is accompanied by the
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