Deaf children have their troubles just as hearing children do, but they get over them and grow up to live ordinary lives like anyone else.

This is how Miss Judith Henry, who has been a teacher at Farrar Public School for the Deaf at Croydon Park for the past 27 years, see the lot of deaf children.

"They enjoy life just as much as hearing people do," she says.

"The little children up to about the age of six or seven are completely happy. The do not realise they have a handicap."

"After the some of them begin to get very upset about their deafness"

"In their young teens they have problems just like hearing people do, but they get over them"

Miss Henry began teaching with Farrar the day it opened in 1946.

At the end of last year she retired.

A farewell dinner was held at Ashfield in her honour.

Past and present teachers and the foundation principal of the school, and an inspector of the Department of Education were among those who attended the dinner.

"It is a very demanding job but it is also a very rewarding one," Miss Henry said on her retirement."

"You get great satisfaction out of seeing what the children can do when they grow up and go out into the world."

"On the whole their school life is pretty normal except for the fact that they have to spend a lot of time acquiring language, to see then achieve enough language to do the high school curriculum and pass their examinations."

"It is wonderful to see how they mature and grow into normal human beings."

Most deaf children grow up to live a normal life at work and home, thanks to the devotion teachers like Miss Henry have put into their education.

"The majority of children who have been through Farrar have coped very well with the jobs they wanted to do and with their marriage and family life," says Miss Henry.

"They seen to fit into the work force quite well."

"The majority of them do an apprenticeship and take on some type of skilled or semi-skilled trade."

"A lot of the girls have gone into offices as machine operators."

"There is one from Farrar who is a fully qualified surveyor."

"As far as marriage goes, they tend more or less to marry other deaf people," she say.

• Miss Henry, who taught at Farrar Public School for the Deaf at Croydon Park for 27 years, holds a photograph of the last class she took before her retirement. Miss Henry was one of the original teachers when the school opened in 1946. She was guest of honour at a farewell dinner.