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57
In addition, 30 children attending the Special School were
examined in the autumn by the School Medical Officer and mental
assessments were carried out, as a result of which 3 children were
de-certified and 2 were excluded as ineducable. An unduly large
proportion of the children were found to be low grade defectives.
A total of 18 children were notified to the Essex County Council
as the local Mental Deficiency Authority. An analysis of these
cases is given at the end of the Report.
Menially Defective School.—Your Committee's Special School
has accommodation for 130 mixed children. A mid-day meal is
served, and an After-Care Committee is in existence.
Miss Purcell. the Head Mistress, has contributed the following
notes on the work during 1931:—
"The Special School continued to be a very happy School, and
1931 saw but little change in its curriculum.
"'The 'Craft' Class chiefly included boys and girls over 14 years
of age, and gave more time to handwork than to reading and
calculation. The children in this Class attended Cookery at the
Wood Street Centre, and the splendid results show that the training
was well worth while. Some boys, and one in particular, were
able to cook and to serve a dinner throughout, and all were taught
to become handy in the home or workshop. A Craftmaster taught
woodwork, including simple repairs to toys, furniture and
equipment, upholstery, boot repairing and brushmaking. A
qualified Gardener visited for 2 sessions and taught the boys
horticulture, a rockery and fishpond being constructed in one tiny
playground during the autumn; while the allotments, in spite of
their bad position, yielded well both flowers and vegetables for
School use. A Visiting Teacher instructed the girls in the use of
a stocking machine, the use of the sewing machine being taught
by the Head Teacher.
"Classes I and II, the older and the younger educable children
worked alternate sessions with 2 assistants—1 specialising in the
academic and mental side, and the other in physical exercises and
general hand-training. Walks, skipping, general remedial exercises,
simple dancing and games, according to the mental status of the
child, took the place of drill. Observations and mental tests
throughout the School were conducted by 1 Teacher, who also
keeps the annual records of each child.
"The very youngest children, chronologically as well as mentally,
spend their time in the 'Nursery,' where general habits (cleanliness,
behaviour, sociability, etc.,) are the predominating feature; while
freedom resembles, as far as possible, that of a good home.