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The aim of all the staff, teachers, therapists, nurses and welfare assistants, is to develop to the full the
physical and educational potential of each child. Facilities exist for all at the school to reach a good standard
of general education and to take the usual examinations.
The physical activities, archery and swimming are very popular with the children and many swimming
certificates are gained each year. Annual Sports Day with other similar schools in London is arranged and
greatly enjoyed by children, staff and parents.
Except for a small assessment class of partially hearing children, the school is unable to admit
children under the age of five but this year the plans for the long awaited Nursery Class really appear likely to
become a reality in 1973.
A Nursery Class will enable us to admit the severely handicapped children requiring regular physiotherapy
and speech therapy and enable these children to have the advantage of Nursery education.
Regular medical examinations were carried out at school during 1972 and the children were periodically
assessed concerning their progress and need for further special treatment.
Vision and hearing are regularly tested and Dr. Da Silva, the Consultant Ophthalmologist, visits the
school each term.
Mr. Sullivan, Orthopaedic Surgeon, attends the school several times each term and any surgery
required was carried out at Stanmore Orthopaedic Hospital.
Children from the two special classes with hearing handicaps and other partially hearing children in
the school were supervised at Neasden Audiology Unit by the Consultant Otologist.
Four full-time physiotherapists provided treatment in the large Physiotherapy Department and the
adjacent Hydrotherapy Pool. Children who were able also visited swimming baths with the school.
The School Nurse who is in full attendance at the School is supported by Welfare Assistants who help
with the care of the children.
Other Day and Residential Schools
Two children who are physically handicapped attend Hazelbury Special School in the London
Borough of Enfield and there are three children who attend Cheyne Walk Unit for Spastic Children.
There are six children placed in Residential Schools, one child is at Coney Hill School for children
with spinabifida, three children are at Welburn Hall, one child is at Tylney Hall and one at Trueloves School.
I. Speech Defect
There are no children attending a special school for speech defects only but there are children in Brent
Special Schools such as Grove Park, Manor School and Kingsbury Day Special School who have severe speech
defects and the report of the Senior Speech Therapist gives an account of the work in these schools.
The majority of children who make up the number of 1,085 pupils reported in 1972 to have speech
defects are in the ordinary schools and receive their treatment at the School Clinics.
Greater emphasis is now being directed to the pre-school child in the identification of speech and
language defects because earlier treatment is so vital for the child's successful progress.
J. Delicate and Diabetic Pupils
At the end of 1972 there were 63 children ascertained as delicate, one less than the previous year. Of
this number 40 were boys and 23 girls.
Twenty of the children were attending Day Special Schools, 10 at Hazelbury School for Delicate
Children in the London Borough of Enfield, seven at Wood Lane School and one at John Keats School in the
Inner London Education Authority. Two children were at Grove Park School.
Twenty-five were placed residentially including eight boys at Tylney Hall.
There is one boy and one girl placed at Pailingswick Hostel in Hammersmith and who attend an
ordinary school in the Inner London Education Authority.
Special education is not required for diabetic children and providing teaching staff are fully informed
about the condition there is no reason why these children should experience any difficulty or the staff any
anxiety when attending ordinary school.
Hostel accommodation is occasionally required when home conditions are poor and management of
the child's diabetes is faulty. Brent is fortunate in having a Health Visitor particularly concerned with the
diabetic patient. Her work entails attendance at the Diabetic Clinic at Central Middlesex Hospital and help in
co-ordinating the treatment recommended by the physician, by visiting the home and in the case of children,
advising the mother how to carry out the physician's instructions and manage her child's diet, and by the visits
to school to ensure that the staff there understand something of diabetes and in this way to avoid considerable
unnecessary anxiety.
A Diabetic Register is maintained at Brent House so that all new children developing this condition
can be offered the supportive services of the Health Visitor and through her the facilities provided by the
British Diabetic Association.