View report page

SCHOOL HEALTH
Special schools
The Education Committee maintains four day special schools and one
residential special school. All admit a proportion of children from other
boroughs.
Durants and Oaktree day schools provide accommodation for 320 educationally
sub-normal boys and girls, who are medically examined annually. Speech
therapy is provided, and at Durants School, where some of the pupils have
dual handicaps, the physiotherapist—who attended twice weekly—gave
twelve children a total of 427 treatments. The educational psychologists paid
34 visits to the schools for the purpose of educational assessments.
Hazelbury Day Open Air School provides places for 140 children of all ages
who are delicate or who have minor physical handicaps. A medical officer
visits the school fortnightly, and medically examines the children once a
term. The pupils have three meals a day and medical care and treatment
are provided by a nurse attached to the school.
The physiotherapist visited the school twice weekly and 88 children received
a total of 2,873 treatments. Eight children suffering from cerebral palsy,
muscular dystrophy and foot defects were treated individually; the others,
with conditions such as asthma and bronchitis, were treated in groups. The
school nurse continued to supervise the children visiting the swimming
baths.
Aylands day school, opened in 1969, provides places for 50 maladiusted
boys and girls. The children are medically examined annually and seen
periodically by a psychiatrist.
Wavendon House residential school for 50 maladjusted boys, opened as
such in 1969. Those boys at the school whose parents live in Enfield are
medically examined annually during the school holidays and are also seen
periodically by a psychiatrist. A general medical practitioner looks after the
health of the boys during term time. When a departmental dental officer
visited the school in February to inspect the pupils and carry out all necessary
treatment, the boys' dental condition was found to be well above
average.
Home and hospital tuition
Section 56
Education Act 1944
In cases where children cannot, for various reasons, attend school, local
education authorities are empowered to provide home tuition. This provision
was made for six children during the year. In addition, tuition was also
provided in the paediatric ward of the North Middlesex Hospital.
Children unsuitable for education at school
Section 57 (amended)
of the Education
Act 1944
During the year decisions were recorded in respect of thirteen children
found to be suffering from a disability of mind of such a nature or to such an
extent as to make them unsuitable for education at school. Under the
provisions for a review of such ascertainments one child was examined and
found to be suitable for admission to a school for educationally sub-normal
pupils.
Circular 16/70 from the Department of Health and Social Security draws
attention to the transfer of responsibility for the education of mentally
handicapped children to Education Departments under The Education
(Handicapped Children) Act 1970. Department of Education and Science
circular 15/70 provides some details of the Act and gives the 1st April, 1971,
as the operative date for this transfer. From this date the existing provision
for notifying a child as unsuitable for education at school will cease and the
provisions of Section 34 of the Education Act 1944 regarding special
educational treatment will apply to such children.
103