Towards the end of the Second World War there was significant social change which led to reforms in legislation relating to health and education. The 1944 Education Act was at the heart of this change and was seen by many as a turning point in the delivery of education. The Act provided a structure for free education for children from nursery level upwards and introduced the tripartite system of education consisting of grammar schools, secondary modern and secondary technical schools. Local authorities became responsible for providing education and one of the aims of this new system was to give more equality of opportunity to children. 

My name is Teresa Hillier and I am based at Swansea University where I am working towards a PhD. My research is focused on how organisations such as Cerebral Palsy Midlands (CPM) became established in the middle of the twentieth century. 

 

I first became aware of CP Midlands when researching a similar organisation which was based in Swansea. That organisation was known as Swansea and District Spastic Association when it was established in 1952. It later became known as Longfields Association. On reading the minutes of Longfields there were references to Carlson House School and how staff members from Longfields visited Carlson House School for training purposes.