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180
SPECIAL DAY SCHOOLS FOR EDUCATIONALLY
SUB-NORMAL CHILDREN
Goddington School, Orpington.
This, the fourth year in the life of the School, has been one
when the School can be said to have reached maturity.
The number of children on the roll stands at 132.
5 children left to take up employment in the area. There are
now 10 boys and girls who left the school with this end in view,
and all continue to be gainfully employed. 2 children (one boy
and one girl) were transferred to an ordinary Secondary School.
Their marked progress while at Goddington has been a souce of
great satisfaction to all concerned.
The medical work at the school continued on the lines
accepted from the very beginning. The School Medical Officer is
part of the team, fully aware that the medical problems are an
important part of the child's learning difficulty and at no time in
the child's life can these be separated out. The Medical Officer
attends regularly once a week and often between the set sessions
for informal discussion. The routine medical inspections are
carried out as laid down in the Education Act, but the tendency
is more towards Special Examinations at the request of the Head
Teacher or parents. In the course of 1967, such examinations
included 36 children who had full psychometric re-assessment.
Whilst the general health of the children has remained good,
the many open air activities greatly contributed to the almost
proverbial buoyancy of Goddington.
Much specialised attention is constantly reauired for those
with additional handicaps, e.g. epilepsy and cerebral palsy. The
services of the school nurse who has full nursing qualifications and
extensive hospital experience, have been invaluable.
Great concern is felt about the small amount of time devoted
to Speech Therapy. This is due to the shortage of Speech Therapists
on the local authority staff, and it is hoped that this deficiency
will be remedied as soon as possible.
The overall improvement in the school performance of most
of the children noted last year, is due to the fact that many children
are now admitted to Goddington at an age younger than hitherto.
The Otis screening test carried out in the whole of the Borough
for the past year and a half, has brought to the notice of the
Authority many slow learners and has had a verv welcome effect
of giving an opportunity to Head Teachers of Infants and Junior
Schools to take a positive attitude in transferring "their" child to
a Special School. The screening programme, however, brought
additional pressure on the places at Goddington, and it became