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" This is an all the year round class, and contains 24 boys, ages varying from 9 to 13 years. These
boys have been in the class the whole year. The summer and autumn terms are spent on the bandstand,
and the winter and spring terms in a pavilion on Parliament-hill-fields. The boys, when originally
selected, were about as weedy, needy and seedy a set of lads as could be picked up. To-day their appearance
is the very opposite.
" It is the best conducted class of the kind that I have ever come across, being blessed with a teacher
full of enthusiasm and open-air ideals. During the summer, every week, from Friday to Saturday
evening, 6 to 12 of the boys have camped out in Ken Wood with the teacher. Each boy contributes
2s. 6d., which covers the cost of the provisions. Two tents and a bivouac are provided. An occasional
excursion is made to the sea, accompanied by the teacher. On Saturday, October 15th, 17 of the boys
were taken to Southend, each paying his own expenses, which were surprisingly small.
" There has been a singular absence of illness during the whole year. One sore throat, one case of
chickenpox, and a blistered foot make up the total list of casualties. An average of 16 boys pay 7d. per day
for a really decent dinner provided in the refreshment room at the pavilion by the proprietor. Roast
beef, two vegetables, and boiled rice ; stew, two vegetables, and jam pudding are examples of the food
given. Four boys living fairly near the fields go home to dinner, four others bring theirs with them."
It may be mentioned that one of the boys in this particular class succeeded this year in passing
the preliminary examination for the Junior County Scholarship.
lhe aid given by the Council to school-journey schemes, gave a great nllip to the movement
during 1920 and 1921. Applications during the latter year were received from 398 departments, and 303
journeys were authorised. The Education Officer draws attention to one successful journey of a novel
type, organised from Wickham-lane school, Plumstead. This journey took the form of a tour through
Kent, the boys and masters travelling by road, accompanied by a motor-lorry with equipment. Tents
were pitched at spots previously arranged. Generally, accommodation was obtained at hostels, cottages,
convalescent homes and camps.
School
journeys,
lhe excellent cffects of a country or seaside holiday under proper conditions in restormg bodily
tone and improving health, need no special demonstration, and it has not been thought necessary for
children proceeding on school journeys to be specially examined as a routine by the school doctor on
their return. In some cases, the school doctors found it possible to see the children shortly after their
return, and in every instance they report upon the very beneficial results. Dr. Reginald Hanson applied
to a set of children going on a school journey some simple tests based upon those now extensively used
to determine the bodily condition of flight officers before and after an aerial expedition. The basis of
his observations were the rates of return of the heart beats to normal subsequently to being raised by
a measured amount of exertion. Seeing the children again on their return, he was able to prove scientifically
that the school journey had markedly improved their general health, and in particular their
cardiac tone. In all the official school journeys, arrangements were made for the school doctor to see
the children before their departure. This is a necessary precaution in order to avoid the risk of spread
of disease, and the chance of a school journey being spoiled through the breakdown in health of a child or
children unfit physically to take part. Infectious disease has been unduly prevalent, but only in a few
cases was any serious trouble caused by an outbreak of disease amongst children during the school
journeys.
It is a great responsibility for teachers to undertake the care of a number of children under strar.ge
surroundings, and applications were made for a medical examination in the case of a number of extra
unofficial school journeys; so far as possible the assistance sought was given by the medical officer's
department.
Isolated cases of infectious disease were reported from school journey parties at Heme Bay,
New Romney, and Whitstable, but adequate precautions were taken and no serious spread took place.
Cine of the most serious occurrences was in the case of a school journey to Littlehampton, during which
the whole party seems to have been upset by some illness, at first thought to be typhoid fever, but of
which the diagnosis remained obscure, it was found necessary for two little girls to be left behind in the
charge of two of the teachers on the return of the others.
It was unavoidable that with so many school journeys there should be a few mishaps, but they
were reduced to their smallest possible proportions. The vast majority of the journeys were highly
successful, and undoubtedly from the health point of view the results were highly satisfactory.
Personal hygiene.
The total number of examinations made during the year by the district school nurses was
2,113,463 ; verminous conditions were present in 435,282 instances or 20'5 per cent, as compared with
18'9 per cent, in 1920 and 22'6 per cent, in 1919.
School
nurses' rotJ
visits.
in the report for 1920, mention was made of the steps which had been approved by the Council
for treating the slighter cases of verminous infestation at medical treatment centres, in boroughs in which
thorough co-operation existed with the local sanitary authorities, and not at the ordinary cleansing
stations. The first centre at which such arrangements were made was the St. Pancras School Treatment
centre, where operations were commenced on the 24th January, 1921. Since that date six other
centres have been opened in the districts of Hammersmith, Vauxhall, Hackney Wick, Poplar, Millwall
and Plumstead. The original scheme approved by the Council provided for 10 centres but it has not
so far been possible to arrange for the three outstanding centres, which it is proposed shall serve the
districts of Stepney, Ishngton and North Kensington. During the year the number of children dealt
with was 9,734. The work has received the general support of head teachers, particularly of girls'
departments, and the arrangements have been made in every way as educational as possible. Children
and parents have been instructed in the practice of cleanliness, and the added interest produced has
61742 G
Cleansing at
medical
treatment
centres.