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May 1970 Food Hygiene.
June 1970 Venereal Disease.
July 1970 Summer Safety.
August 1970 Preparation for School.
September 1970 Smoking.
October 1970 Fireworks — Fire Hazards.
November 1970 Winter Hazards.
December 1970 A Safe and Happy Christmas — Toys, Flameproof Materials and Decorations.
January 1971 Hypothermia — Winter Ills.
EDUCATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS
The activities in schools continue and further contacts with teaching staffs are being made all the time.
The perennial topics — smoking, drugs, human relationships, home safety, personal hygiene and life in
general are under constant discussion; a new venture as far as boys are concerned is the inclusion in health
education courses of films showing the birth of a baby. These films have, of course, been used for many
years at girls' schools, but teachers now feel that boys should be fully involved in understanding about
ante-natal care and the fact that they, too, should be included in a family experience. After all, boys are the
fathers of tomorrow and parenthood is a shared experience.
More teachers continue to make use of the health education facilities offered by the department, and are
borrowing films, slides and visual aids, increasingly, as well as making greater use of the stock of disposable
materials, i.e. posters and leaflets which are available freely on demand.
Another contact made this year was at the North London College of Further Education. The Health
Education Officer presented a course of general health education topics to students who were doing liberal
studies. Some of the sessions dealing with drug abuse and dependence culminated in lively discussion,
between the pro-legalising "pot" faction and those who wished the law to stay as it is.
Talks on general health topics were given at Pentonville Prison to those prisoners who were taking liberal
studies as part of a general education programme. Venereal disease and the birth of a baby were of
particular interest to the course students who for the first time were receiving factual information on health
matters in a way which could be understood by them.
The Health Education Officer also gave talks on a number of health subjects to telephone engineer
apprentices at the Northern District Office of the G.P.O.; he also lectured to all new students at the
Northern Polytechnic, outlining health service facilities offered to the community by the borough and the
National Health Service.
PARENT TEACHER ASSOCIATIONS
The Health Education Officer continued to make contact with parent-teacher associations and gave a
number of talks dealing with subjects in which parents had shown interest. He was able to show associations
at primary schools the new Radio Vision programmes "Where do babies come from" and "Growing up",
thus enabling the parents to discuss the content of the programmes with the teachers and other interested
parties. It is interesting to note that after the showing of the programmes and the discussions, the attitude
of parents changed and their fears were allayed.
DENTAL HEALTH
The dental health of children in the borough is under constant surveillance, and, in order to press home
its importance, campaigns are mounted in schools throughout the year. A unique form of presentation to
primary school children was devised this year. All new entrants to schools in the borough received a talk
from the Health Education Officer and the I.L.E.A. dental health educator, and they were intrigued to see a
giant set of teeth and a huge toothbrush being used to demonstrate the correct way to brush one's teeth.
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