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45
time, with most gratifying result. All classes now use it regularly,
for practice in listening both to their own and the teacher's voices,
and to the wireless.
On June 12th we had a visit from Her Majesty's Inspector, who
spent the day with us, observing the work in all the classes, and
on June 17th another of H.M. Inspectors spent a short time in the
school. Both commented on the friendly, oral attitude of the pupils.
On June 29th Dr. Clarke came to see the hearing-aid in use and
was pleased to see how much it helped the partially-deaf children
to improve the pitch and volume of their own voices, and the joy
it gave them in enabling them to join in choral singing.
The pleasure which the children derive from singing together
is out of all proportion to the quality of their performance. We find
that even the children whose deafness is almost total seem to experience
great pleasure from the very faint sensation of hearing which
they have when using this powerful aid. The psychological effect
of this is very valuable, even though the actual instructional benefit
of so small an amount of hearing is worthless—children who are
severely handicapped are apt to suffer from a deep sense of inferiority.
If a child who has never heard can be made to feel that even
if he doesn't hear well, he does hear, that sense of inferiority is
lifted.
Miss Baker and Miss Black, both of New Zealand, left us in
the Autumn and were replaced by Miss Read and Miss Buckell, the
former from Manchester University and the latter with experience
of day and residential schools and private tutoring, both at home
and abroad. We are still staffed entirely by qualified teachers of
the deaf.
During the year the children have visited the Coronation Route,
the Zoo and the Circus, and have seen the Coronation and Everest
films.
In September Dr. Clarke made his usual aural inspection, as in
past years. There are still no cases of regularly discharging ears
(a somewhat unusual experience in such a school). One child had
a slight discharge, which was arrested and cured by Dr. Clarke by
ionisation treatment.
The number on roll at the close of 1953 was forty, the ages
ranging from three to fifteen years.
(d) School for the Educationally Sub-Normal.—Miss R. E. A.
Lock, Headmistress, reports as follows
Two boys made such good progress that they were able to
return to secondary modern schools on trial. Both have made good.