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(6) Special Education :
Number of children admitted to Shaftesbury Special
School following formal ascertainment 5
Number of children admitted informally 8
Both Psychologists continued to make regular visits to the school.
(7) Visits to Special Schools (excluding Shaftesbury School) :
Boarding Schools 4
Day Schools 1
(8) Lectures :
Pre-school Play Groups 4
Parent/Teacher Meetings 2
Youth Service Training 2
(9) Conclusions :
1968 proved to be an extremely busy year. The school population
now stands at over 27,000 and the resources of the School Psychological
Service proved barely equal to the demands made on it. It has not yet
been possible to increase our remedial teaching facilities and more
difficult problems still have to be catered for elsewhere, e.g., at the Word
Blind Centre in London. This is also true of emotionally disturbed
children, where, in a number of cases, school placements (both day and
boarding) have had to be sought outside the borough.
HANDICAPPED PUPILS
The Local Educational Authority have a statutory duty under the
Education Act 1944, of ascertaining handicapped pupils in their area and
of providing for the special educational treatment of such children.
Ten categories of pupils requiring special educational treatment are
defined in School Health Service and Handicapped Pupils' Regulations.
These are as follows
(a) Blind Pupils, that is to say pupils who have no sight or whose sight
is, or is likely to become, so defective that they require education by
methods not involving the use of sight.
Number of blind pupils newly assessed 1
Number of blind pupils admitted to special schools during
the year 2
Total number of blind pupils in special schools for the
blind as at 31st December, 1968 5