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In addition to a regular weekly session at the school b,y a
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 7years. 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 30 (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.
In addition there are hospital schools at Queen Mary's Hospital for
Children, Carshalton, and Belmont Hospital, Sutton, also at St.Helier Hospital.
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 friary's Hospital School
Ahen 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. 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 1967 was 162.
(d) Belmont Hospital School
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
iihgland 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 and one part-time teacher of the
deaf both of whom are attached to the unit.
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