[Report 1968] / School Medical Officer, Northamptonshire County Council.

  • Northamptonshire (England). County Council.
Date:
1968
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1968] / School Medical Officer, Northamptonshire County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    17/54 (page 13)
    SPECIAL SCHOOLS As with normal children, it is the policy of this Authority to help a handicapped child to develop his skills to the maximum. For some this means placement in a special school, either on a residential or a day basis. Such a placement in a sheltered atmosphere, however, may make it more difficult for the child to be integrated into a normal community on leaving school. For this reason, wherever possible, a handicapped child is educated in a normal school along with his peers who live in the same locality. This can only be done where it is thought that his education will not suffer, but when successful it helps in his integration into the community. In spite of this policy, however, it was necessary to place 56 more pupils in special schools at the end of 1968 than were so placed at the end of 1967. Special schools outside the County When compared with 1967, the number of educationally subnormal pupils placed in boarding schools outside the County was reduced by one. At the same time, the number of children placed in boarding schools for other categories of handicapped children increased by 22, so that a total of 123 children were placed in boarding schools outside the County at the end of the year. The largest group comprised malajusted children, and in addition to the 39 children placed there were 19 more pupils on the waiting list for places ; seven of these have waited already for over 12 months. The difficulties in finding accommodation are still acute, as this increase will indicate. Special schools maintained by the County Name of school Location Tyfe No. of pupils M F Loddington Hall Loddington Boarding—E. S. N. 59 — Brookfield Wellingborough Boarding/Day* E.S.N. 37 60* Firdale Corby Day E.S.N. 57 39 Isebrook Kettering Day E.S.N. 43 34 Kingsley Kettering Day P.H. 38 22 * This school has 25 girl boarders. Kingsley School 1968 was the first full year for the operation of this school solely for physically handicapped children. During the year indoor toilets have been provided to replace the outdoor ones. A considerable area has been tar macadamed, thus providing additional play-area for use in wet weather and it also provides a much better surface for children using tricycles, scooters, pedal- cars and wheel-chairs. More extensive work is planned for the future to improve the facilities available. An analysis of the different types of handicapped children attending the school is given in the following table ; the figures for 1967 are shown in parentheses.