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from remote parts of the country. The Service was indeed fortunate
in having Mrs. Walton to take up the Head Teacher's post on
Mrs. Hodgman's retirement, in preparation for transfer to the new
Junior Purpose-built Training Centre, Woodbrook, in Beckenham.
The year 1968 also brought the upgrading of all the Training
Centres posts, the Council recognising in a tangible way the teaching
element in the work of the staff.
The in-service training programme continued on the same lines
as before with five variants of training running parallel:
1. Inter-disciplinary professional meetings to cover one subject
of common interest.
2. Monthly case conferences at the Training Centre.
3. Release of staff for seminars and short courses usually
arranged by the London Boroughs' Training Committee
or National Association for Mental Health.
4. Full time secondment on a course leading to the Diploma
issued by the Training Council for Teachers of the
Mentally Handicapped, one officer undergoing training at
Bristol.
5. Combined in-service training with Bexley L.B. consisting
of two one-day conferences per year. In 1968, these took
place in Darenth Park Hospital and Bexley Training
Centre respectively.
The average number of formal in-service training sessions per
officer was, excluding the full time secondment, 12.2 (10 in 1967).
There were no resignations in 1968, one trained teacher was
appointed to take up a vacancy brought about by Mrs. Hodgman's
retirement.
A new and very welcome development took place following a
request from one of the Teacher Training Colleges (Coloma, West
Wickham) to accommodate their students on one day a week.
This request was readily granted and a class of students spend a
whole day at the Centre with the tutor, the students involving themselves
with the children on a one-to-one basis. The aim is to work
with the child through music and movement.
The advantages to the Centre are threefold—firstly the activity
is clearly of great value to the child, secondly it provides the staff
with an opportunity to evaluate new approaches to the work, and
thirdly, by fostering the interest in the students the Centre plays a
modest role in furthering recruitment in the field of special
education.
It has been both a busy and an exciting year, the staff having
to run the Orpington Centre and plan the new Woodbrook Centre.
The arduous preliminary work which followed detailed and careful
planning was well worth while and the transfer of children and staff