Background
The Mount School for the Blind and Deaf was situated in Penkhull in Stoke-on-Trent. It opened in 1897 and was run by the North Staffordshire Joint School Authority. Its catchment area was wider than just the immediate city, taking pupils from all over Staffordshire and sometimes neighbouring counties. The school was an all age school, catering for children from the age of 5 up until the age of 16. A nursery school was also later added. In 1949, the school stopped the intake of blind children, who were transferred to Birmingham. It continued to provide education for the deaf until 2000, when the city council decided to close the school and merge the remaining pupils into mainstream education.
About This Index
This index has been created from the two main admission registers for the blind and deaf departments. For some children, separate admission forms and other records also survive.
Post 1927 admissions are not included in this index as access to more recent admission records is restricted under data protection legislation. If you are interested in a child who was admitted to the school after 1927, please contact Stoke-on-Trent City Archives for further details and they will advise you on access procedures.
Other records of interest
The Mount School collection contains a wide range of records that may be useful if you are trying to trace a particular person. Other records include:
- The school's log book
- Staff records
- Class registers
- Progress reports
- Medical records for the children
- Records of school activities such as sports programmes
- Photographs of pupils and school activities
If you are interested in any of the above, please contact Stoke-on-Trent City Archives for further information. Please note that as with the admission records, records relating to individuals who would be less than 100 years old will also be restricted under data protection legislation.
See separate index to the register of blind people in Stoke-on-Trent kept by the Blind Welfare Committee in the city council. The register was in use from the 1930s through to the 1960s, with the earliest year of birth recorded as 1840. Many of the children who attended the Mount School are also included in this register.