View report page

52
At the beginning of 1972 there were two diagnostic classes for infant aged children but in September
a third class for children of junior age was established.
During 1972, 13 children were admitted to the diagnostic class and eight left, one to ordinary school,
five transferred to the main school of Manor Primary, and two children left Brent. At the end of 1972 there
were 24 children in the special classes.
Many of the children at Manor School and in the diagnostic classes require speech therapy and the
Therapist attends the school three days a week. It is hoped to increase this to a full-time Therapist when the
establishment of 10 full-time Therapists for the Borough is filled.
Regular medical examinations were carried out at the Manor School during each term and the School
Nurse visited the school regularly. Dental and ophthalmic services are arranged for the children at the School
Health Clinic. The audiometrician attends the school to screen all the children's hearing at regular intervals.
Other Day Special and Residential Schools
Twenty-eight children attend other Day Special Schools outside Brent and 25 children are placed at
Residential Schools.
Severely Sub-Normal Children
At the end of 1972 there were 206 children in this group, the majority attending Kingsbury Day
Special School and Bainacraig Special School. There were children placed with foster parents, in special hostels
and Nursing Homes as well as at Residential Schools outside Brent. There were 32 Brent children in
Leavesden Hospital.
Kingsbury Day Special School
At the end of 1972 there were 146 children on roll including the pre-school children in the nursery
classes attached to the School. There were 16 admissions during the year and 11 discharges. One leaver transferred
to the Adult Training Centre, two children were admitted to Leavesden Hospital and two children were
admitted to the Centre for Spastic Children at Cheyne Walk. Six children left the district with their families.
Admissions to Kingsbury Day Special School were restricted because the discharges at school leaving
age were very limited. The opening of the new Adult Training Centre at Stonebridge was postponed for some
time and school-leavers had to be retained at Kingsbury School.
Kingsbury Day Special School is a purpose-built school and accommodates 146 children providing for
both the pre-school age group and those requiring special care and nursing as well as the main school stream.
There is a full speech therapy service in the school and the Physiotherapists from the Centre at
Grove Park School treat the children needing care.
The school still lacks a medical room, physiotherapy and speech therapy rooms as well as a room
for sick children, but plans are being made to remedy this urgent need.
A classroom has to be used by the Speech Therapist thus reducing admissions by eight to 12 children
and the Physiotherapist has to treat children either in classrooms or in corridors.
The School Nurse is in full-time attendance and regular two-weekly medical inspections were held at
the School.
Parents were invited to attend and the value of the meeting between the child, the parent, School
Doctor and the teaching staff would be very substantially increased if social work time could be allocated
to these assessments at school.
The Ophthalmologist and the Audiometrician visit the school each term.
Bainacraig Day Special School
This school originally sited in a small purpose-built hut at Neasden was transferred in 1971 to the
Games Pavilion at Ashley Gardens near Preston Road because of the proximity of the new Neasden underpass.
The school accommodated 24 children, but although larger the new premises required some alterations
and decorations and the full complement of children could not be taken during 1972. At the end of December
1972 there were 16 children on roll, only two being admitted during the year, and four were discharged. One
of the children leaving the school was transferred to Kingsbury Day Special School and one to Leavesden
Hospital. One child left the district with his family and one child died.
The children were seen regularly by the School Doctor and visits were made weekly by the Speech
Therapist and the Physiotherapist.
During the year a case of infectious hepatitis occurred and contacts amongst staff and children were
protected by the use of gamma globulin.
Other Day and Residential Schools
Five boys and two girls are fostered by Brent Social Services Department and attend Special Schools
in the areas where they live. 18 children attended independent schools.
Seventeen children do not receive schooling and of these one boy and two girls are in the Day
Nursery, one boy has home tuition, five boys and two girls are in Residential Homes with no recognised
education available. Six children are in their own homes.
The two children in the Day Nursery were retained there after five years as the waiting list for
Kingsbury Day Special School prevented admission. This as was previously indicated was due to the older
children not being able to transfer to the Adult Training Centre.