View report page

57
In recent years it has been the practice to admit children
to this unit as soon as they are three years old. This allows care
and training to be provided from an early age, which is beneficial
to the child and also to the parents, as it relieves the mother of
the heavy burden of caring for an untrained subnormal child at home
a task which can take up the greater part of her working day.
Junior Training Centre
This centre has 45 pupils on the register. The classes are
small - one teacher to about ten children, thus allowing more attention
to be given to individual children during periods of formal instruction.
Much emphasis is placed on practical instruction or learning through
doing. This is accomplished by children being taken out regularly
in small groups to observe, in natural setting, situations they have
been shown in the classroom. By constant repetition memory is
developed, learning takes place and what is learned in one situation
is retained and often transferred to another. Many children have
emotional difficulties and have acquired bad habits in early childhood.
These difficulties need to be overcome before any real progress can
occur in a learning situation.
The top class of the junior training centre deals with pupils
whose ages range from 12 to 16. During this age period, the programme
provided in the centre is devoted to learning in a community situation,
which is important to help the adolescent take his place in the
community when school days are over. With this end in view, visits
were made to police stations, fire stations, a telephone exchange,
libraries, banks, post offices etc. A selected party of children was
taken by members of the staff to the Young Vic Theatre in London on a
Saturday morning, and they were invited to take part in an event on the
stage. This was an enlightening experience for both children and the
staff who accompanied them.
During the year we were fortunate in obtaining the use of the
gymnasium at Latchmere House Detention Centre for one morning a week.
Unfortunately, as Latchmere House is now a remand home and there has
been a change of policy, this is no longer available for use by
children attending the centre. Some of the boys from Latchmere House
visited the training centre regularly and helped with the pupils. This
appeared to be an enjoyable experience for both the children who attend
the training centre as well as the boys from the detention centre.