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150
Bedelsford School.Grange Road. Kingston
Thanks are expressed to Mr.E.C.Cooke, Headmaster, for the
following report;
This school for physically handicapped children receives into
the nursery class children from the age of three, which is not only of
great benefit to the children but a tremendous help to their parents.
Children are provided with transport to and from school and
are accompanied by escorts. All pupils receive a mid-day meal at
school and special arrangements are made for children in need of diets.
There are seventy children on roll and all children in the
school are severely physically handicapped.
It is of interest to note that the number of cerebral palsied
children has declined considerably in as much that instead of a number
around fifty there are now twenty-five. This decline has been replaced
by an increase of children incapacitated by spina bifida and hydrocephalus
numbering at the present time fifteen. There are also
fourteen muscular dystrophies; this would appear to be in excess of
the average in years past.
There is a group of children for whom no final diagnosis has
been made as they do not fit into any specific category and have multiple
difficulties.
The whole approach to education and treatment is to emphasise
normality and where possible it is the policy to encourage children to
go on to a normal school. Pupils who, because of their physical
disability cannot attend any other school, where suitable will be
prepared for the C.S.E.
In addition to the basic subjects they are given instruction
in the various crafts and domestic science. It must be remembered that
children so severely disabled by necessity spend a great deal of time
having treatment, physiotherapy, speech therapy and visits to hospitals
for various tests.
At the end of the year the first stage of the rebuilding
programme was nearing completion and it is hoped to start using this
early in the new year.