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with accommodation for 230, they are examined at least once a year, special cases
being seen more frequently. Arrangements are made in all schools for urgent cases
to be seen without delay, either by the school doctor or at a Council Treatment Centre.
Treatment of teeth, tonsils and adenoids and minor ailments is generally carried
out at Council Clinics, though in a few cases the school doctor living locally attends
to minor ailments and ordinary children's complaints. Eight of the eleven schools
are visited, as a rule daily, by a Council Nurse, the work being undertaken in the
other three schools by an experienced teacher.
Each school is inspected regularly by a Council doctor regarding all matters
relating to the health of the children. The Council undertakes responsibility for
the control of infectious disease, each case being notified from the Nursery School
to the School Medical Officer. On the outbreak of an epidemic a visit is paid by a
Council doctor to advise as to its control, and where necessary to examine children
and swab throats. Children in affected schools arc inspected daily by a Council
Nurse, or, exceptionally, by an experienced teacher.
The following summary of the records of medical inspection in the eleven schools
has been calculated in the case of the nine smaller schools for the first term of 1925,
when all children present in these schools were examined, and in the case of the two
larger schools for the whole year: Number of children examined. 533; number with
defects, 392; rickets, 122; throat and nose, 216; eyes and eyelids, 12; squint, 11;
ears, 27; lungs, 79; heart, 26; skin, 20; teeth, 72; other defects, 75. The numbers
of children with 2 defects, 3 defects, and 4 or more defects, were 45, 21 and 18
respectively.
The number of children treated was 140—teeth, 60; squint, 5; nose and
throat, 46; ears, 8; other defects, 21.
Examination of Pupils at Secondary Schools, &c.
Pupils at secondary schools are examined at entrance and a complete examination
of all is made at the ages of 12 and 15. Those with defects are kept under
observation. The health of all pupils is reviewed annually and a medical examination
is made of any pupil where it appears desirable. Treatment under the Council's
scheme is offered to scholarship holders on the same terms as elementary scholars,
but other pupils are expected to pay the full cost if treated under the Council's
arrangements.
7,653 pupils in the secondary schools were examined in detail, and 2,337 were
in addition inspected. 1,820 pupils in technical institutions were examined in detail
and 396 were also inspected. 1,093 students in training colleges were examined
in detail and 215 were also inspected. In the secondary schools 1,045 boys and
972 girls were examined in the 12 year age group and 1,174 boys and 1,004 girls
in the 15 year age group. In the following tables the condition of the children in
the secondary schools at the age of 12 is compared with that of the children of the
same age in the elementary schools.
Boys—
Cleanliness
unsatisfactory,
Carious
teeth.
Defective
vision.
Defects
of heart.
Defects
of lung.
Anaemia.
Elementary schools 4.8 30.8 42 2.6 1.8 2.8
Secondary schools 2.0 25.3 28.7 2.7 .4 4.7
Girls—
Elementary schools 14.8 29.9 45.9 3.8 1.6 2.8
Secondary schools 2.0 21.9 32.7 3.9 1.6 3.9
The pupils in the secondary schools compare very favourably with those in the
elementary schools not only in personal cleanliness but also in the condition of the
teeth and correction of visual defects. There is more anaemia, however, returned
from the secondary schools, probably because the secondary school pupils have less
time if not opportunity for play and recreation.