[Report 1924] / School Medical Officer of Health, Stirling County Council.

  • Stirlingshire (Scotland). County Council.
Date:
1924
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1924] / School Medical Officer of Health, Stirling County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    “The general working of the school consists in teaching the children the ordinary school subjects as far as their capabilities will allow, and also varied occupations, consist- ing of gardening, joiner work, rugmaking, knitting, plasticine work, designing with coloured wools, drawing with chalk on millboards, raffia working, leather work, and stencilling. Physical instruction is also given. The progress of the •children in the ordinary subjects has not been mai'ked. although none have actually stood still. Five boys showed, distinct improvement, especially in writing, and the one girl in the class is showing marked improvement, and her general intelligence is also improving. All are fond of manual work, and some quite good work is done. The exhibition of their work at the end of the session displayed in the school was very creditable indeed, and shows the adaptability of the children. The work also reflects great credit on the care taken by their teacher, Miss M. Gray, and she has to be congratulated on the results obtained. “The school is undoubtedly doing good work, and meeting a- felt want. The aptitude shown by the children in doing manual work would lead one to encourage this branch of instruction with those children as much as possible, and it might even be advisable, in the case of the older boys, to teach them some trade.’’ Dr. Rutherford reports on the special class at Camelon School as follows: “There are nine children at present in the ■special class for mentally defective children in Camelon School. “I had an opport unity of examining the children individually, and also of seeing the work done by the class throughout the year. “There has been a general improvement in neatness and cleanliness in writing and in drawing, although the degree of improvement is naturally limited. In most cases the •capacity for abstract reasoning shows little increase, arithmetic, for example, being done mainly by means of concrete aids. One of the older boys, however, has improved in this respect, and accomplishes simple sums involving the money, linear, and weight tables. This boy is leaving school to commence work. “The handwork done by the pupils is very creditable indeed, and includes knitting, sewing raffia work, and straw mat making. The articles made are remarkably well done, and in some cases, where the choice of colours was left to the pupils, the resulting colour schemes are artistic. This work is valuable, as it interests the pupils and involves ■counting, spacing, concentration, and manipulative dexterity.