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Referrals may be divided into broad categories
1 new pupils: a visit to parents of a friendly
routine nature.
2 parents where there has been very little
contact between them and the school and
where problems are suspected.
3 mothers who are depressed and requiring
support and advice.
4 to support housing applications requiring
detailed social reports.
5. to pass on to welfare department for aids
in the home
6 to arrange holidays for children to relieve
tension in the home.
7. to put children in contact with outside
activities e g guides, cubs, swimming or
to put families with like children and
interests in touch with each other.
8 matrimonial problems
9 to encourage immigrant mothers to attend
speech classes and to give information
about them.
10 to find and refer on to the appropriate
agency where help can be best given
11. to parents of spina bifida children
The last category is important becuase
of their increasing numbers and because with
this unfortunate section of the community,
long-term help is almost invariably necessary
and an early friendly relationship is vital
if one is to give support of any value. To this
end Mrs Wisdom attended the Ashford ASBAH
meeting and keeps good contact with them
and the Ealing branch; writing and giving
the names of newly referred parents so that
they can be contacted and given information
about the society. To further her knowledge
she also visited and had discussions with
the social workers at Queen Mary's Hospital.
Carshalton, Colney Hill School and Chailey
Heritage where many spina bifida children
attend
We also attended a course of John Heimler's
seminars which we found very interesting,
but owing to pressure of work it has not been
possible to pursue it further
A large number of visits were made during
the year covering the full cachment area
Careful planning was necessary to avoid
wasting time and a certain amount of evening
visiting was carried out to see parents who
would otherwise be at work. Many of these
visits were in support of parents of difficult
cases, and these visits will continue during
the children's school careers
We have found our new office of great
benefit as private interviews with clients are
now possible With increasing work-load
these will be necessary if we are to minimise
time in travelling
At the time of writing this report Mrs
Wisdom has just been appointed full-time and
has now undertaken work at Marjory Kinnon
School in addition to Martindale Mrs Harding
is on maternity leave and will be returning
on a part-time basis dealing only with Heston
School for the Deaf and the hearing clinic A
further part-time social worker is to be
appointed to cover Busch House School
Eventually there will be the equivalent of
half a social worker attached to each special
school This is necessary if we are to meet
the expected continuous increase in our
case-load and becuase many of the cases
will be difficult and long-term and will
extend during the whole of the child s school
career '
School Meals and Milk
The provision of meals and milk at school
is firmly established The milk supply is
pasteurised and is given free A charge is
made for school meals,
The school meals organiser has provided
the following figures based on a check made
one day in September Figures relating to
milk are for primary and special school
children only as milk is no longer supplied
to secondary school children.
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