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SCHOOL HEALTH SERVICE
During the year the supervision of the health of the schoolchildren of the Borough
has continued under the control of the School Health Service which is fully comprehensive.
Liaison has been maintained with the Inner London Education Authority,
The Medical Adviser's Department at County Hall, and the head teachers of the
various schools within the Borough.
Tt is important that there should be an exchange of information between the three
sections of the Health Service, i.e. the hospital services, general practitioner services
and the local authority services, with regard to the health of the Borough's schoolchildren,
and this interchange has continued.
The health of the Borough's schoolchildren has remained good. Children are
examined by the school doctor on at least four occasions during their school life;
parents are invited to attend at each of these examinations in order that any problems
may be discussed. In addition to the examination soon after school entry, examinations
are undertaken at seven or eight years of age, at entry to secondary school, and in the
year before the child's fifteenth birthday, when consideration is given to the child's
suitability for employment after leaving school. Every child has an annual hygiene
inspection and vision test, and an audiometer test is carried out on all infant school
entrants, and on any child whose hearing is suspect at later stages in school life.
The year has been marked by further expansion of the Special Investigation Clinics
where treatment is undertaken for obesity, nocturnal enuresis, and some other
behavioural problems. These clinics are staffed by school doctors and social workers,
and school nurses, and children are referred to them after consultation with their
family doctors. Vision and hearing defects are also investigated at the vision and
audiology clinics by specialist doctors.
The register of handicapped schoolchildren has been maintained. The register helps
to ensure that every child receives all available help, and that suitability of school
placement may be kept under review. In addition it forms a basis for statistics on
which the planning of future facilities may be based.
For those children who, by reason of their handicap are unable to attend ordinary
schools, boarding and day special schools are available through the Inner London
Education Authority. The special schools situated within the Borough are as follows:
Nansen School for Partially Sighted Children, 59 Pendragon Road, Downham;
Meeting House Primary School for the Educationally Subnormal, Roundtable
Road, Downham;
Brent Knoll School for the Delicate, Mayow Road, S.E.23.
In addition there is a Partially Hearing Unit for children of secondary school age
in Sedgehill Comprehensive School. Children with severe hearing defects attend day
schools in neighbouring boroughs, and physically handicapped pupils attend Charlton
Park School in the Borough of Greenwich. The children attending Brent Knoll
School who were in temporary accommodation in Beacon Road were able to move
in September to the new building in Mayow Road.
Special arrangements have continued to be made during the year for home tuition
for those children who for health reasons are unable to attend school, and in some
cases transport has been arranged for children able to attend school, but unable to
make the journey by public transport.
Handicapped Pupils Register
The handicapped pupils section of the comprehensive observation register is now well
established. An index card showing personal details, handicap, family and hospital
doctor, type of education and school attended is completed for each child whose
home address is within the Borough, irrespective of whether he or she attends a
school in Lewisham or elsewhere. A file containing medical details for each child is
also retained in the Health Department, and copies of the information are forwarded
to the doctor in the schools.
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