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SANITARY CONDITION OF THE SCHOOLS.
At the end of the year 1921 there were in the Borough 11
schools with 26 departments under the control of the Education
Committee. There was accommodation in these schools for
8,875 children, and there were 8,091 on the roll, with an average
attendance of 7,126 (Table 7).
As regards general hygienic conditions—site, surroundings,
ventilation, lighting, warming and sanitation—the schools are of
a high standard upon the whole. There are, however, one or two
old schools in which the hygienic conditions cannot be considered
altogether satisfactory. All the schools are kept reasonably
clean, and the school cleaners do their work in a satisfactory
manner. All the schools are supplied with water from the public
supply, and all are connected to the public sewers. The washing
accommodation in the schools seems to be sufficient; but the use
of the common towel, a potent source of infection, is still to be
deplored. The cloak-room accommodation is adequate in most
of the schools.
ORGANISATION OF THE SCHOOL MEDICAL SERVICE.
The School Medical Officer is also the Medical Officer of
Health and this arrangement ensures complete co-operation between
these two departments. The present School Medical
Officer began his work in the Borough at the end of March, 1921,
and has visited the school departments on 147 occasions during
the year.
The School Medical Officer is assisted by the Assistant
Medical Officer of Health (Dr. J. R. Prior), who helps with the
work of routine inspection and acts as School Ophthalmic Surgeon.
This arrangement works very satisfactorily. The other
School Medical services in the Borough, viz., the inspection of
Secondary School Children, the treatment of the minor ailments
of elementary school children, the operating for tonsils and
adenoids, and the administration of gas for the extraction of
teeth, are performed by part-time local practitioners. During