Special schools

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, school boards and their successors the local education authorities (LEAs) began making provisions for children with special educational needs.

There was also an increasing amount of legislation from central government, much of which was consolidated and extended by the Education Act 1944.

Please note that some of the records outlined in this guide contain sensitive or personal information about individual pupils and are not open to the general public. Where this is the case, it will normally be shown on the catalogue entry.

If you think you might require access to closed records, please contact us at the Norfolk Record Office (NRO) for further advice.

If you wish to view records which begin with the prefix ACC, please also contact us, as advance notice may be required to view these uncatalogued records.

This is a very brief outline of relevant legislation. 

For further details see A Morton, Education and the State from 1833 (Public Record Office, 1997), particularly Chapter 8, Special Services.

Elementary Education (Blind and Deaf Children) Act 1893

School authorities had to provide education for blind and deaf children aged seven to 16 and resident in their area.

Elementary Education (Defective and Epileptic Children) Act 1899

This allowed local authorities to provide education for physically and mentally disabled children. Provision was made compulsory for mentally disabled and epileptic children in 1914 and for physically disabled children by The Education Act 1918.

The Education Act 1944

This reenacted and extended provisions in earlier legislation and was further modified by Acts in 1948 and 1953. Services, usually in the form of special schools separate from mainstream education, were further expanded in the 1950s and 1960s.

The Education Act 1970

LEAs took responsibility for educating all children with disabilities and there was a move to educate pupils with special needs in mainstream schools.

The Norfolk education committee's report, Education in Norfolk, 1950-1960, shows this process had already begun. 

The committee provided residential instruction for more than 246 pupils with special needs, but there were also about 1,133 children classified as 'handicapped' who were educated in day schools.

The Norfolk education committee stated its policy was to provide special services in the normal environment of homes and schools, rather than in special institutions.

The Education Act 1981

This Act was influenced by the report of the Committee of Inquiry into the Education of Handicapped Children and Young People, 1978 (known as the Warnock report).

The main points of the act were that pupils previously referred to as 'handicapped' were instead to be termed 'pupils with special educational needs', a written statement of those needs was to be made for each child and there was increased emphasis on integrated provision in their education.

The Education Act 1993

A special educational needs tribunal was established under this act for parents to appeal against decisions made by their LEA.

Information concerning special schools administered by Norfolk County Council, Norwich City Council, or borough councils in Norfolk can sometimes be found in the relevant education committee minutes.

For details of the various education committees, please see our guide Education in Norfolk. 

For general registers and extracts of minutes relating to children in special and industrial schools, see the following:

• Norwich Education Department maintained several general registers of children attending special and industrial schools: 
  • For a 'Register of blind, deaf and dumb children', 1893-1919, see N/ED 7/6
  • For a 'Register of blind, deaf and dumb and other defective children admitted to various institutions', 1894-1931, see N/ED 7/7
  • For a register of children at industrial schools, 1892-1927, which includes a list of children discharged from blind and deaf institutes, 1920-29, see N/ED 7/2
• Norfolk County Council kept the following general extracts of minutes and registers of children: 
  • A register of children at special schools, c1932-47, gives the name of the pupil, home address, details of fees paid with parental contributions and a note of the school attended: it is held by NRO but is not currently on the public catalogue.
  • For extracts of minutes of the Norfolk County Council's health, welfare and special schools sub-committee, 1944-72, see ACC 2005/63

Alderman Jackson Special School, Gaywood, King's Lynn

This school was originally known as King's Lynn Occupation Centre or the Junior Training Centre and was based in Albion Street, King's Lynn.

It was operational in the 1950s, was staffed by the Norfolk health department and looked after about 40 disabled children.

Parents, teachers and friends of the Centre formed the King's Lynn Society for Handicapped Children for the purpose of upgrading or replacing the facility.

In 1966, a purpose-built building was opened in Marsh Lane, Gaywood and was known as King's Lynn Comprehensive Training Centre.

In July 1966 it was taken over by the education department and renamed the Alderman Jackson Special School after the late Mr F C Jackson, chairman of Norfolk health committee and a supporter of the King's Lynn Society for Handicapped Children.

In spring 2009, Alderman Jackson Special School merged with Ethel Tipple Special School to form Churchill Park School, on Winston Churchill Drive, Fairstead, King's Lynn.

This was a newly-built school on a new site and had been occupied by the former Ethel Tipple School for a year before the Alderman Jackson School pupils and staff joined them.

• For a pamphlet about the history of Alderman Jackson School, entitled How Our School Began, (c1987) see ACC 2010/67, box 1.
• For records of Alderman Jackson Special School, including the following, see ACC 2010/67 and ACC 2010/207:
  • For log books, 1949-93, see ACC 2010/67, box 1. Please note that log books are closed to general public access for 50 years.
  • For admissions register, 1965-95, see ACC 2010/67, box 1. Please note that admission registers are closed to general public access for 30 years.
  • For admissions printouts, 1991-2009, see ACC 2010/207. Please note that these printouts are closed to general public access for 30 years.

Clare Open Air School, Norwich

It is thought that the Clare Open Air School started in the early 20th century on a site given to the Norwich City education committee.

The school was intended for physically disabled children.

The site was near Waterloo Road and St Clement's Hill and there is still a Clare Court off Waterloo Road today.

The school subsequently moved to a site on Colman Road and was known at times as the Colman Road Open Air School.

A 1960 report on the school by HM Inspectors and a medical officer gives the following description:

"When the Open Air School was first established on its present site it was only open from May to October; the classrooms and dining room were marquees. These were later replaced by wooden buildings and in 1928 the present buildings were completed.

"For many years this Open Air School - and the Educationally Sub Normal School, which still shares the site - were amalgamated under one Head Master but in 1951 the schools were again separated and a Head Master was appointed for each."

For a copy of this report, see N/ED 4/77.

The school is now known as The Clare School and located on South Park Avenue, Norwich.

It is a specialist co-educational day school for pupils, aged three to 19, with physical and/or sensory learning needs.

The Clare School maintains its own records which are not held by us.

Colne Cottage, Cromer

The Norfolk education committee, acting on the initiative of its chairman Sam Peel, purchased Colne Cottage in 1947 from Lord Noel Buxton.

This was to be used as a hostel for girls and younger boys with behavioural and learning difficulties.

According to the Norfolk education committee report, Education in Norfolk, 1950-1960, older boys with behavioural and learning difficulties were usually sent to Morley Hall, Wymondham (see the following chapter).

Adjacent paddocks to the school at Colne were purchased from Lady Noel Buxton in 1948 and, following refurbishment, Colne Cottage opened as a school on 12 September 1949.

• For a log book of the Colne Cottage Hospital School which gives information about pupils admitted and staff, 1949-78, see ACC 2005/59. Please note that this log book is not open to general public access for 50 years.

East Anglian School for the Deaf and Blind, Gorleston

This school was established in 1912. It was funded by several local education authorities in East Anglia until it became the responsibility of Norfolk County Council in 1974.

Please note that many of these records have closure periods for general public access.

• For the main series of records, 1904-85, including minutes and admission registers, see list C/ED 37
• Proposals for the establishment of the East Anglian School, 1907, are included in Y/ED 121
• For financial papers, 1911-32, see Y/TR 665-671
• For a log book of the school, 1912-54, see Y/ED/S 76
• For committee minutes and annual reports, 1912-44, see Y/ED 321-323
• For governors' minutes, 1911-13, see Y/TC 90/7/6
• For governors' minutes, 1940-59, see Y/ED 828-830
• For governors' minutes, 1959-85, see C/ED 37/109-112
• There are plans of the school, most of which are undated, see Y/BE 2/53/1-4
• For papers concerning the military occupation of the school in 1940, see Y/ED/S 77

Eden Hall Special School

This was formerly known as the Norfolk County Council Education Department Special School, Bacton.

Being a coastal county, Norfolk had a reputation for good quality sea air and several schools were established for 'sick' or 'delicate' children.

In 1954, the Norfolk education committee acquired Eden Hall on the coast at Bacton for this purpose.

The committee's report, Education in Norfolk, 1950-1960, noted that more than 165 children had benefited from their stay there. A copy of this report is available on the searchroom shelves.

• For admission registers of the Eden Hall Special School, formerly the Norfolk County Council Education Department Special School, 1954-80, see ACC 2005/63. The registers are usually closed to general public access for 30 years
• There are also plans and photographs of the Eden Hall Special School, 1984, see C/C 17/203

Horn's Lane Blind School, Norwich

The Elementary Education (Blind and Deaf Children) Act 1893 made local school boards responsible for the education of blind and deaf children.

In Norfolk, blind children were taught at the Norwich Blind Institution (see the following chapter) until 1900.

The city then established a school for the blind at Horn's Lane to which other local authorities also sent children.

This was superseded by the East Anglian School for the Blind and Deaf in 1912 (see the previous chapter).

• For a school log book of Horn's Lane Blind School, 1909-12, see N/ED1/13B
• For an admission register, 1901-10, see N/ED 8/18

John Grant Special School, Caister

This school began as the Great Yarmouth Borough Council Health Department's Occupation Centre for mentally handicapped children and young adults.

In 1945, the school was based at Park Baptist Chapel and later moved to St Mary's Church, on Southtown Road.

In 1956, it was based in a school on Suffolk Road and became known as the John Grant Special School. The borough council's education department administered the school from April 1 1971.

It is now located in St George's Drive, Caister, and educates children, aged three to 19, with profound and multiple learning difficulties.

The school was designated as a specialist sports college in July 2009.

• For governors' minutes of the John Grant Special School, Caister, 1972-75, see ACC 2005/63
• For a scrapbook and photograph album relating to Mrs Betty Colby's class at the school, c1977, see ACC 2005/284

Kelling Sanatorium (later Hospital) School, near Holt

During the early 20th century, many sanatoria were built for tuberculosis patients.

In 1904 Marion Rumball, a nursing sister at the Homeopathic Hospital in Great Ormond Street, London, became concerned about the lack of provision for patients under the age of 16.

She began raising money to establish a sanatorium for children and eventually land was purchased on Kelling Heath, situated in pine woods and near to the sea, for the purpose.

Accommodation was provided in a new home adjoining the site in July 1906, pending the construction of a permanent building.

Fifteen children were in residence by December 1908 and there were many more awaiting admission.

Theodore Hamilton Beit, son of the benefactor Otto Beit, laid the foundation stone of the permanent sanatorium on 19 December 1911 and patients were transferred to the new building from April 1913.

The school was held in the dining hall at first and then in old sheds or in the open air. School hours were between 10am to noon but later changed to 9.30am to 11am and 2pm to 4pm. Lessons included singing and drill.

A new schoolroom was designed and built by Arthur B Knapp-Fisher in 1933, with part of the late Otto Beit's legacy.

The new schoolroom is described in the Kelling Children's Sanatorium, 'Twenty-Eighth Annual Report' (see ACC 1999/219):

"The building within is divided by a glass partition, which can be moved back when the whole of the room is needed. In school time the younger children are taught in one classroom and the older in the other, where there is a platform or stage which has already proved of great service when, as at Christmas, an entertainment is given for or by the children."

The Kelling Sanatorium closed to children in the mid-1960s and there is no separate body of records for it.

However, some information about the school is given:

• For records of the Children's Sanatorium including annual reports, 1907-33; Committee minutes, 1904-12; visitors' book, 1913-66 and press cuttings, 1904-c1918, see ACC 1999/219
• For Kelling Children's Sanatorium managers' minutes, 1920-45, see ACC 2005/63
• For a log book of the Holt Children's Hospital Special School, Kelling, 1915-65, see reference C/ED 2/134. Please note that this log book is closed to general public access for 50 years.
• For a full history of the Kelling Sanatorium, see Dr James Slator, Kelling Hospital: The First Sanatorium for Working Men, (Larks Press, Dereham, 2000).
• High Kelling Society History Group's The Birth of a Village: A History of High Kelling, (High Kelling Society, 2000) contains chapters on the Kelling Sanatorium and the Kelling Children's Sanatorium. 

Morley Hall, Wymondham

The Norfolk education committee established a home for older boys with behavioural and learning difficulties at Morley Hall, adjoining Wymondham College.

It is mentioned in the Norfolk education committee's report, Education in Norfolk, 1950-1960, but there are no records of this school deposited with us.

Norfolk and Norwich Association for the Blind (previously the Norwich Blind Institution)

The Norwich Blind Institution, later known as the Norfolk and Norwich Association for the Blind, was based in Magdalen Street and incorporated a school.

The school was established following the Elementary Education (Blind and Deaf Children) Act of 1893 and closed in 1900.

Blind children were then educated at the Horn's Lane school (see the previous chapter).

• For records of the Norwich Association for the Blind, which mainly include minutes, visitors' books and photographs, 1805-1981, see list SO 159.
• There is a plan of The Norwich Blind Institution, 1889, in the Norwich City Engineer's records. See N/EN/12/1/1783.
• For later plans of The Norwich Blind Institution, 1936-67, in the records of H C Boardman, architects, see list BR 35.
• For a history of the Norwich Blind Institution, see F Meeres, One Man's Vision: The Story of the Norfolk and Norwich Association for the Blind, 1805-2005 (Norwich, 2005).

The Orthopaedic Hospital School, Melton Lodge, Great Yarmouth

This opened on 29 May 1929. By September 1960, pupil numbers had been in steady decline for some time and the school closed on 16 December 1960.

• For records of Melton Lodge Orthopaedic Hospital School, see Y/ED 414-417. They include a log book, 1929-60, an admission register, 1935-60 and sales accounts for the school, 1929-60.
• For records about the school building and capital projects, see Y/ED 785.
• There are county architect's plans of this school, references C/AR 1/50, 1935 and C/AR 1/740-751, 1935-40.
• For minutes of the Norfolk County Council, Melton Lodge sub-committee, 1935-48, see references C/C 10/365-366.

Sidestrand Hall Special School

The Norfolk education committee opened Sidestrand Hall, on the coast near Overstrand, in 1950.

The committee's report, Education in Norfolk, 1950-1960, notes that it was a boarding school for 89 boys and girls with learning difficulties.

There is still a school at Sidestrand Hall, which is now attended by boys and girls, aged seven to 16, with moderate learning difficulties.

It maintains its own school records which are not held by us.

The Watts Naval Training School, North Elmham

The Watts Naval Training School was originally known as the Norfolk County School.

It was established and opened in 1873 for the sons of farmers and artisans.

It closed in 1895, but was re-established by Edmund Hannay Watts in 1901 and repaired by his son, Sir Fenwick Shadforth Watts.

The school became a Dr Barnardo's home in 1903 following the death of Edmund Hannay Watts and was formally opened in 1906.

It accommodated about 300 boys who were trained for a future life in the Royal or Merchant Navy. The school estate consisted of about 54 acres, including playing fields and gardens.

There is an article about the history of the school in the magazine of the Watts Naval Training School, Elmham, Jack Tar, (July 1937), see PD 209/471.

It ceased to be a sea school in 1949, but continued as a Barnardo's home until it closed in December 1953.

Few records of the school are held at the NRO, apart some admission registers.

• For admission registers of the Watts Naval Training School, 1912-32, see C/ED 4/ 2-6
• Barnardo's keep records about children in their care and advice can be obtained from the Barnardo's Family History Service (opens new window)

• S J Curtis and M E A Boultwood, An Introductory History of Education Since 1800 (University Tutorial Press, 1966)

• High Kelling Society History Group, The Birth of a Village: A History of High Kelling, (High Kelling Society, 2000)

• P Horn, The School Log Book in Short Guides to Records ed K M Thompson (Historical Association, 1997) pp104-108

• P Horn, The Victorian and Edwardian School Child, (Sutton, 1989)

• F Meeres, One Man's Vision: The Story of the Norfolk and Norwich Association for the Blind, 1805-2005 (Norwich, 2005)

• A Morton, Education and the State from 1833 (Public Record Office, 1997)

• Norfolk Education Committee, Education in Norfolk, 1950-1960 (Norfolk County Council, c1960)

• Dr J Slator, Kelling Hospital: The First Sanatorium for Working Men, (Larks Press, 2000).

• W B Stephens, Education in Britain, 1750-1914 (Macmillan, 1998) - available through the Norfolk Library Service