| Biography | The Royal National College for the Blind (RNC) is a co-educational residential college of further education based in the English city of Hereford. Students who attend the college are blind or partially sighted. They can study a wide range of qualifications at RNC, from academic subjects such as English and mathematics to more vocational topics such as performing arts. Alongside regular further education subjects and vocational training, the college offers training in independent living and personal development. In 2008, there were 196 students aged from 16 upwards.
Founded in 1871 in London as The Royal Normal College and Academy for the Blind, the college had a number of homes before moving to its campus in Hereford; it was renamed the Royal National College for the Blind in the late 1970s. It has been a pioneer in the education of visually impaired people in Britain since the Victorian era, and, as of 2010, is the only college for visually impaired students in the United Kingdom to have been awarded Beacon Status in recognition of its outstanding teaching and learning. RNC is the home of the first football academy for visually impaired players and the England blind football team, and hosted the 2010 World Blind Football Championship. It also served as a training facility for participants in the 2012 Paralympic Games. The college is actively involved in the development of assistive technology to help visually impaired people in their day-to-day lives. Two notable devices developed at RNC are the Mountbatten Brailler, an electronic braille writer, and the T3, a talking tactile device that helps with the reading of maps and diagrams.
The Royal National College for the BlindThe college was established in 1871 by the English philanthropist Thomas Rhodes Armitage and the American anti-slavery campaigner Francis Joseph Campbell, who lost his sight as a young boy.] Campbell had originally planned to establish a college for the blind in the United States, but was persuaded by Armitage that London would be a more suitable location. At the time English schools for the blind did not provide their students with the skills to become independent, and dissatisfied with this situation, Armitage dreamed of establishing a school whose emphasis was on music and which would prepare its students for careers as organists, piano tuners, and music teachers.
With donations of £3,000,] the college enrolled its first two students on 1 March 1872 Queen Victoria became its first Patron, while several prominent members of her family became Vice-Patrons.] Among those to become governors of the college were the Duke of Westminster, Lord Shaftesbury, Lord Lichfield and the Right Hon. W. H. Smith, M.P. At the time of its founding it was called "The Royal Normal College and Academy for the Blind", the word Normal being an American expression referring to teacher training offered by the college, with Campbell recruiting many of his teaching staff from the United States.
Originally located in two small buildings on Anerley Hill near London's Crystal Palace, the college later moved to larger accommodation at Westow Street, Upper Norwood after rapidly outgrowing its original premises. In its early days, the college was considered very progressive and experimental in its approach to education.] A history of the college on its website describes the curriculum as "liberal and advanced for its day", and emphasis was placed on physical activities such as swimming, cycling and roller-skating. Students even took part in a morning of tobogganing following a heavy fall of snow. By the end of the 19th century, the college had over 200 students.Until the Second World War the college admitted 11 to 15 year olds, but in 1945 the principal of RNC and headmaster of Worcester College for the Blind came to an agreement that Worcester would provide secondary education and RNC would take students over the age of 16.
As well as being one of its founders, Francis Joseph Campbell served as RNC's first principal, from 1871 until his retirement in 1912. He was knighted as a Knight Bachelor by King Edward VII in 1909 for his services to blind people |