inner–london schools 1918–44 a thematic study - English Heritage

The special schoolWith the exception of the open-air schools (see pages 70-76) the LCC did not build newspecial schools during this period, opting instead to reuse existing special schools andelementary schools which became available through reorganisation. In addition to this theLCC maintained or funded a number of out-county residential schools.Special education provision for physically-disabled children was established by theElementary Education (Blind and Deaf Children) Act of 1893, which obliged every schoolauthority to provide education for blind and deaf children between the ages of 7 and 16in certified schools. The Elementary Education (Defective and Epileptic Children) Act of1899 empowered local authorities to train physically and mentally ‘defective’ and epilepticchildren. The first LCC open-air schools were established the following decade under thislegislation. In the inter-war period, the open-air schools became significant aspects of theLCC’s provision of special education to weak and tuberculous children.The 1914 Elementary Education Act, the 1918 Fisher Act and the consolidatory 1921Education Act made provision compulsory, requiring the local education authorityto provide ‘special schools’, to be inspected by the Medical Branch of the Board ofEducation. In 1924 the Wood Committee on Mental Deficiency was set up. It reportedin 1929, recommending that a larger group of ‘retarded’ children join the ‘defective’category and be educated, without certification, in a ‘helpful variant of the ordinaryschool’.The LCC special education service had a greater capacity than that provided by otherurban authorities: in 1929 the LCC estimated that their provision presented approximatelyhalf the total number of special school places in England and Wales. By 1939, the LCCcategorised special educational needs in the following way:No of PupilsBlind 100Partially-sighted 550Deaf 450Partially-deaf 150‘Mentally deficient’ 3,100‘Physically deficient’ 3,100‘Anaemic, dehabilitated, or 2,600pre-disposed to Tuberculosis’Total 10,050 71Vocational training of physically disabled children was provided in the form of ‘manualwork with a vocational bias’, mainly provided between the ages of 13 and 16 at a mixtureof day and residential schools. 72Due to small class sizes and the policy of out-county dispersal in residential schools(see below), the LCC chose not to build new special day schools during the period,instead adapting obsolete SBL elementary schools, such as the school at Gideon Road,© ENGLISH H ER I TAG E 43 - 20 0977