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64
the many activities associated with music which were hitherto
denied to them.
The provision of an extra classroom at the Centre completed
just before Easter, 1967, enabled us to reduce the waiting list to
Special Care cases only and to relieve pressure in the rest of the
Centre. Now one classroom is au par with the modern educational
establishments.
The attendance rate remains good. The annual medical
inspection carried out for children and adults confirmed good
general health, the defects being only in the sensory (visual) and
dental areas. The facilities of School Clinics are often used by the
trainees. Where the parents are either unable or unwilling to take
the child for treatment, the M.W.O. provides transport or acts
in loco parentis.
The Centre aims to help the child in reaching his full
potential. The three Rs, physical education, social graces, awareness
of the outside world are taught. For the older trainees, simple
skills, e.g. home making for girls and light industrial work for
boys are given due emphasis. The latter group are now increasingly
involved in contract work while the girls are getting very proficient
in sewing, needlework and cooking.
To enhance the awareness of the outside world, the "children"
continue to shop in the locality in small groups and the whole
Centre visited the Maritime Museum, Greenwich, Horniman
Museum and the Orpington General Post Office.
The Authority is acutely aware of the need to employ staff,
who, in addition to experience and personal qualities, are also
suitably academically qualified. The formal training of existing
staff is hampered on one hand by the scarcity of Diploma Course
placements, and on the other by the fact that the majority of
officers are not, because of family commitments, able to apply for
such placements.
The In-service training referred to in the previous report has
been intensified in 1967. The two One-day Conferences for all
staffs, including Hospital Schools, organised in conjunction with
Bexley L.B. took place in 1967. The Spring Conference had
Orpington Training Centre as its venue, where the emphasis was
on the 3R work and Speech Therapy. For the Autumn Conference,
Goldie Leigh Hospital, Abbey Wood, S.E.2 acted as host and
the subjects covered were the application of music in the Training
Centres, also special teaching methods and equipment needed for
cerebral palsied children.
In addition, two Assistant Supervisors attended day release
seminars. In all, in-service training occupied 110 officer/sessions
(57 in 1966) making an average of 10 sessions per officer (5.7 in
1966).
The secondment of one trainee on a Diploma Course was
already referred to.