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(d) Belmont Hospital School
At Belmont Hospital there is a diagnostic unit for non-communicating children
aged 3-8 years. They are referred from a wide area in the South of England. The children
have a variety of severe language and emotional disorders. The unit is residential with
with accommodation for 12 children. The unit is staffed by a multi-disciplinary team
consisting of a consultant psychiatrist, two teachers, an educational psychologist and a
specch therapist and also supervistory staff. The children's stay in the unit varies from
a few months to two years, when they are then suitably placed in school.
During 1971 tuition was arranged for 13 children at this unit.
QUEEN MARY'S HOSPITAL FOR CHILDREN
Queen Mary's Hospital for Children which is situated within this borough, is
the largest children's hospital in the country. It was inaugurated in 1909 and treats all
children's illnesses, both acute and chronic. Altogether there are 726 beds, of which 340 are
for mentally handicapped children on psychiatric wards, and 386 for paediatric and other
cases. In addition to the clinical departments there are, since 1st April, 1971, two London
Borough of Sutton schools within the hospital, one for children receiving hospital treatment in
the paediatric wards, known as Queen Mary's Hospital School: and the other for mentally
handicapped children known as The Fountain School. A limited number of children attend
both schools daily from this borough and surrounding boroughs.
(a) 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. The school has the
responsibility of teaching all children over the age of 2 years who are in hospital for medical
or surgical treatment and who are, in the opinion of the medical staff, fit enough to have
schooling. In fact most children do receive some form o teaching.
Teaching takes place in the wards and in some classrooms set aside for school
use. The latter includes the department for cerebral palsy, spina bifida, muscular dystrophy,
maladjusted and autistic children. The last two units include children who attend school on
a daily basis from outside the hospital.
Only a small proportion of all children have homes in the London Borough
of Sutton. The average number enrolled for the year to 31st December, 1971, was 167 (145).
(b) The Fountain School
Under the Education (Handicapped) Act, 1971 the Education Committee became
responsible for the education of 340 children over the age of 2 years resident in the
psychiatric wards of the hospital. Prior to April, 1971, 114 children aged between 4 and 16
years plus, received education in a training centre in the hospital known as The Fountain
School. Twelve of these children came daily from their homes in the London Boroughs of
Wandsworth and Sutton. The school consisted of a purpose-built school with 8 classes
accommodating 80 children. The rest of the school was accommodated in another building.
There are plans to build an extension to the purpose-built Foutain School. In April, 1971
The Fountain School became a school for E.S.N. pupils providing education for all mentally
handicapped children in the hospital. Ideally it would be in each child's best educational
interests to receive at lease port of his/her education away from the wards, but at present it
is not possible to implement this owing to the very limited teaching accommodation at the
hospital.
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