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school medical officer and educational psychologist two physiotherapy
sessions are held each week and 4 sessions are devoted to speech therapy.
Before any pupil leaves the school at the age of 16 a full
medical and psychological investigation is carried out and, in conjunction
with the headmaster, a decision is made regarding the type of employment
that might be suitable for the pupil. In some cases because the pupil
might not be accepted into employment or may drift from one job to
another, supervision and community care by mental health social
workers is recommended. To assist in finding suitable employment
the Principal Youth Employment Officer devotes several sessions at the
school to interviewing school leavers and their parents.
It is regrettable that educationally sub-normal pupils cannot
be admitted to Carew Manor School before the age of 7 years. An increasing
number of pupils at ordinary schools are now ascertained as educationally
sub-normal by the age of 6 years and these children have to be found places
in schools in neighbouring Authorities.
(b) North Downs Unit, Belmont
This unit caters for 15 maladjusted children. The children remain
on the register of their ordinary school and attend the unit from varying
periods from two to four days each week. •
The children recommended for admission to the unit are carefully
selected in conjunction with the child psychiatrist and the head teacher
of the unit. Many maladjusted pupils require continued contact with
their homes and parents which can only be achieved by the provision
of day school places. It is hoped that new premises will become
available enabling the number of places to be increased to 30.
In addition to these two special schools there are hospital schools
at Queen Mary's Hospital for Children, Carshalton and Belmont Hospital, Sutton.
I take this opportunity of expressing my appreciation of the work carried
out for sick children by the head teachers and their staffs.
(c) Queen Mary's Hospital School
When a child is admitted to hospital it is essential to continue
his or her education as soon as he or she has sufficiently recovered from
illness to do so. At Queen Mary's Hospital School some of the pupils can
attend classrooms but the majority have individual tuition in bed.
A number of children are only in hospital for a short time but a large
percentage are in hospital for a period of months or even years. In
addition to the head teacher there are 29 assistant teachers and the
curriculum at the school is as varied as in any other school.
The total number of children on the register at 31st December, 1966
was 157 (168).
(d) Belmont Hospital Sohool
At Belmont Hospital there is a diagnostic unit basically for deaf
children. The children are referred from a very wide area in the
South of England and the unit specialises in the examination of children
for deafness. Many of these children are found to be not suffering from
deafness but to be non-communicating (autistic) children. A number may
be in the unit for a few days only when the diagnosis has not proved
difficult but others remain for a period of months.
There are 12 beds in the hospital for these children, the beds
almost always being occupied, and the children suitable for education
attend classes run by a teacher of the deaf who is attached to the unit.
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