W. Ross Macdonald School
Encyclopedia
Brantford, Ontario
Brantford is a city located on the Grand River in Southern Ontario, Canada. While geographically surrounded by the County of Brant, the city is politically independent...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, and provides instruction from kindergarten to secondary school graduation for blind
Blindness
Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...
and deafblind
Deafblindness
Deafblindness is the condition of little or no useful sight and little or no useful hearing. Educationally, individuals are considered to be deafblind when the combination of their hearing and vision loss causes such severe communication and other developmental and educational needs that they...
students.
The school is one of two special residential facilities in Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
for blind and deafblind students. It draws students from across the province and northeastern United States, and has residences to accommodate those that do not live in the local area. Students are recommended for the school by their school board when their needs cannot be met locally. In addition to their own students, the school provides services to other school board programs for students who are blind or deafblind.
Attendance at the school remains at slightly more than 200 students.
The school was originally named the Ontario Institution for the Education of the Blind when it opened in 1872, and later called the Ontario School for the Blind. It was given its current name in 1974 in honour of Brantford citizen William Ross Macdonald
William Ross Macdonald
William Ross Macdonald, PC, OC, CD, QC , served as the 21st Lieutenant Governor of Ontario from 1968 to 1974, and as Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons from 1949 to 1953.- Early life :...
, who served as Lieutenant Governor of Ontario from 1968 to 1974.
Though students typically receive instruction in core curriculum subjects, the expanded core curriculum http://www.afb.org/Section.asp?SectionID=44&TopicID=189&SubTopicID=4 developed at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired
Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired
The Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired is a Texas special public school, in the continuum of statewide placements for students who have a visual impairment. It is considered a statewide resource to parents of these children and professionals who serve them...
has not been officially implemented at the W. Ross Macdonald School. Although students may receive instruction related to some expanded core curriculum areas (e.g., orientation and mobility, life skills or career education) instruction is not guaranteed. Students are currently unable to receive academic credits for work related to the expanded core curriculum.
The school's motto is "The Impossible is only the Untried".
Special features
In recent years, a concerted effort has been made to provide landmarks in the physical layout of the newer buildings, to aid students in navigation. A variety of materials and textures are used in the building floors and walls to allow for more efficient orientation. The classroom windows are above eye-level of the students in order to provide indirect light because students with a vision impairment can find direct lighting difficult. Artificial lighting uses special lights with dimmer switch. As well, student lockers are larger than conventional school lockers and include seating.Superintendents
- E.S. Wiggins (1872)
- J.H. Hunter (1874)
- A.H. Dymond (1881)
- H.F. Gardiner (1908)
- C.W. James (1916)
- W.B. Race (1917)
- W.H. Little (1933)
- H.J. Vallentyne (1935)
- S.E. Armsstrong (1956)
- G.C. Whetstone (1972)
- David A. Neill (1977)
- Clive. J. Hodder (1991)
- Nancy Sanders (2006)