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Priblems arising with individual children.
It was a great joy to see a second remedial class open in the
through in September at Monteagle Junior School. The class started
with a small nucleus of children and is gradually building up to a
maximum of 16 children. It already has an atmosphere of its own and
provides a relaxed and happy, but stimulating environment for the
children and is an invaluable addition to the special educational
facilities in the borough, The other long-established remedial class
Roding Junior School is also, of course, still doing most valuable
work. Now that we have two classes, the problem that some children
could not attend a remedial class because of a difficult journey from
some is eased considerably and some children from the Monteagle
plass are picked up by the school coach which brings the Thames
new estate children to the school. Ideally, I think all children,
accept those within walking distance, should be provided with
transport to these special classes on a school coach. This would
event some children being penalised because their parents are unfilling
or unable to make the effort to escort them to and from a
school which involves a bus journey. In some instances this is the
only reason given by parents for refusal to accept their child's
attendance at a remedial class.
The survey of reading difficulty in the Secondary Schools which
has mentioned i last year's annual report has now been completed
the additional figures confirm the conclusion drawn last year
not there is a need for remedial classes for Secondary School
childen who have failed to learn to read but who have the intellidance
& to make good progress in such a class. The number who need
these facilities s small but these few are in great need of more
intensive remei 1 teaching. They also need to be relieved from the
situation, unavc iable while they remain in ordinary classes at
recomandary School level where most of the children read fluently and
there they are set written work in a number of subjects; English,
history geography etc., where, because of their reading difficulty,
they are quite unable to cope with the spelling involved in putting
in writing their imaginative ideas or the facts they have learnt.
untill they have :stered the basic tools of reading and spelling
they merely waste their time and become increasingly frustrated in
lessons where the work demands a standard of literacy they have not
let achieved. It would be of much more help to them and would rein
Quicker progress if they were taught temporarily, until they
mastered these basic skills, in classes where all the written
work set was at the same level as their reading. The written work
could then be geared to keep pace with their reading, so that they
could use a gradually increasing vocabulary in their written work,
they increased their reading vocabulary. In a small group they
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