Epilepsy Through History
For some children with epilepsy, receiving an education once meant leaving home and living in a specialist residential institution.
The beginnings at Lingfield
St Piers in Lingfield traces its origins to 1897, when a farm community was established after its founder learned of European models for supporting people with epilepsy and disability. An institution for children with epilepsy followed soon afterwards.
Education and segregation existed together
By 1905, the Lingfield site was certified as an educational institution, allowing local education authorities to place children there. This gave some children access to schooling that might otherwise have been denied, but it also reflected an era when disability and epilepsy were often managed by separating people from ordinary community life.
Historic records show that the institution grew substantially during the early twentieth century. By the interwar years, hundreds of children could be accommodated there.
A wider national pattern
Lingfield was not unique. The growth of residential special schools formed part of a broader British system in which children with epilepsy and other disabilities were often educated away from home. In 1957, children from the Epilepsy Society’s school at Chalfont were transferred to Lingfield when that school closed.
From epilepsy institution to modern specialist education
The institution changed over time, later admitting children without epilepsy and eventually becoming St Piers School and College. Its history shows both sides of specialist provision: access to education and support on one hand, and the normalisation of separation from family and mainstream schooling on the other.
Why this history matters
Modern debates about inclusion, school safety and whether a child with epilepsy can take part fully in ordinary education sit on top of a much older history of exclusion and segregation.
Sources
St Piers — Our story
Epilepsy Society — Our history
Historic England — The Right to Education