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" (ii.) More boys are 'discovered' than girls. This does not mean that otorrhœa
is more prevalent among boys than girls. It is easier to see ear discharge in a boy
than a girl. Boys may attend treatment centres less regularly. It is possible that
parents think less of ear discharge in a boy than a girl.
" (iii.) The number of cases ' discovered' in infants departments is very
significant if one may assume that cases in infants are more amenable to treatment
than those amongst children in senior departments by reason of more recent onset.
The average is about 130 a year in infant's departments."
Nursery schools.
The Rachel McMillan schools in Deptford, with accommodation for 200 children,
have had a record attendance during the year, and there is still a large waiting list.
A number of children from this school were taken by the teachers to the Averyhill
Training College during the summer holidays. The experiment was a great
success. Similarly, the Jellicoe and the Notting-hill schools, with their teachers,
were transplanted into the country, and Miss Read, who arranges such a holiday
yearly for her children at Notting-hill school, says that the mental as well as the
physical effect of such a change is incalculable.
The McMillan school has already had the effect of materially raising the standard
of cleanliness in the district. The number of children requiring daily bathing has
dwindled considerably, while several are not bathed at school at all. This is particularly
noticeable here where the numbers are large. The Jellicoe school for the
same reason has found it possible to substitute for their large immersion bath a bath
of the kitchen sink type, similar to that used for small children in the McMillan
school. The Jellicoe school has had the bath placed on a lower stand so that the
children can wash their hands in small portable basins placed in the bath, thus
economising in fixtures for water supply and waste. With the extra space
secured by this arrangement it has been possible to arrange for the cooking to be
done on the premises instead of at the Infant Welfare Centre next door.
The schools fortunately have been singularly free from epidemics during the
year, but the Council's recent decision that payment of grant be made on an average
attendance instead of a percentage basis has had the not unforeseen effect of closing
schools, where attendance is pulled down by epidemics or illness, until a larger attendance
can be secured. This is contrary to the conception of the nursery school as a
means whereby epidemic diseases can be controlled, and where absence is an indication
for a visit from teacher or nurse for the purpose of ascertaining whether the child
is being properly looked after, and of taking steps accordingly. These children are
more liable to illness than older children, whose resistance is higher, and supervision
in illness has so far been a feature of the nursery school, where a child is never absent
for more than two days without enquiries being made.
The number of children from 3 to 5 years of age attending the infants' departments
of elementary schools is over 50,000, and it might be well to consider the
points of difference in the provision made for these children and those in the nursery
schools.
One finds nursery schools in various types of buildings. Four are in private
houses adapted for the purpose, one in a garage and courtyard, and the McMillan
schools are composed of wooden shelters erected on open-air principles. All give
good results, but as far as the main building is concerned, for summer and winter
use few can compare with the newer type of elementary school, with French windows
opening into a sunny playground, a large airy hall, and well warmed cloakrooms
where wet clothes and boots can be dried. The fundamental difference lies in the
fact that the amenities of the nursery school approach more nearly the amenities
of a middle class home. The nursery school recognises that personal attention
to the physical requirements of the child is at least as important as attention to his
Dr. Hogarth's
report on
Nursery
Schools.
(i.) Building.
(ii.) Physical
requirements.