As social attitudes to mental illness and people with developmental disabilities changed over time, the facilities and amenities improved. The school was only opened in 1951 when it was realised that the boys would benefit from schooling. Many of the patients were boys (girls weren't admitted until the 1970s), who were sadly left to their fate in the care of the state, as their parents lacked the willingness or ability to deal with their condition. There are heartbreaking stories from staff who worked there for many years, of children with no parents or family, milling quietly around the lucky ones whose families had turned up to celebrate Christmas and other occasions, desperate to experience the close and unconditional love of someone else's mother or father.