HC Deb 14 July 1959 vol 609 cc197-8
25. Mr. Rankin

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will state the number of Scottish deaf children who applied for places in the Mary Hare Grammar School and the Burwood Park School, respectively; the number who were rejected for each school at the recent joint entrance examination; the reasons for rejection; and why these pupils were not given places at St. Giles School in Edinburgh

Mr. Maclay

At the recent Joint Entrance Examination for the two schools named there were two Scottish candidates. Both were unsuccessful because they did not reach the necessary standard. Unlike the Mary Hare Grammar School and the Burwood Park School, St. Giles School is not planned to deal with very deaf children such as these two candidates.

Mr. Rankin

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that on 12th May the Under-Secretary, when replying to a Question of this nature, said to me that the number of deaf children able to benefit from senior secondary education was not sufficient to justify the establishment of a suitable school in Scotland but that such children are catered for in two schools in England established for this purpose? How can the right hon. Gentleman make such a reply when St. Giles School in Edinburgh is approved by the Scottish Education Department, of which the right hon. Gentleman is the political head, as providing such a course for Scottish schoolchildren and has in the last few years passed four children for the senior secondary leaving certificate?

Mr. Maclay

I am advised that the training in St. Giles for the kind of people that the hon. Member has in mind raises very complex questions of educational policy. It is not something about which I should like to make any statement today.