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8
The headings under which this Report is written are those
suggested by the Medical Branch of the Board of Education for the
guidance of School Medical Officers.
2—CO-ORDINATION.
(a) With Infant and Child Welfare.
An important step in securing closer co-ordination between
medical supervision of the infant and pre-school children and the
school child was the appointment of a whole-time Assistant
Medical Officer. Dr. Edith Abbott took up the duties of this
office on April 28th, 1930, and devotes three-tenths of her time to
Maternity and Child Welfare, and seven-tenths to school medical
work.
(b) With Nursery Schools.
There are no Nursery Schools in the Borough of Hornsey. The
advocates of Nursery Schools believe there is need for a Nursery
Class in Campsbourne and one at Coldfall.
The Nursery School idea has been very freely discussed during
1930 in the literature of preventive medicine—no doubt as a result
of the joint circular on the subject from the Ministry of Health
and Board of Education addressed to Maternity and Child Welfare
and Education Committees.
(c) With Measures for the Care of Debilitated Children
Under School Age.
The Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education in his
Annual Report for 1929 on "The Health of the School Child"
says:—
"Yet more might be done in the supervision of the 'toddler'
without invoking the more expensive and elaborate provisions
mentioned above (i.e., Nursery Schools and Classes). There is
no reason, for example, provided the Local Education Authority
concurs, why, when parents are invited to routine inspection in
the schools, they should not be encouraged to bring their younger
children with them, and submit them for examination to the
School Medical Officer."
This suggestion has been adopted for trial in Hornsey.