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the school staff. In many cases they change into special clothing and as a rule
are given extra milk. Dr. F. C. Lewis, the divisional medical officer in the northeastern
division has taken a leading part in the promotion of these special classes,
and the following is his report upon the year's work in his division:—
During the year the health classes for children found by examinmg doctors
to be suffering from postural curvature of slight extent, deficient chest expansion
and general lack of muscular tone without obvious disease, have been continued in
the following schools:—Buckingham Street (G.); Westbourne Road (G.);
Moreland Street (G.); Sigdon Road (G.); Daubeney Road (G.); Mandeville
Street (G.); Homerton Row (G.); Poole's Park (G.); The Forster (G.); Princess
May Road (G.); Blundell Street (G.); Hungerford Road (G.); Winchester Street
(B.); Vittoria Place (B.); Central Street (B.) (since discontinued); St. Peter's
Italian (B.).
Report by
Dr. F. C.
Lewis.
" The classes have tended to vary somewhat in the work done owing to the supervision
of the physical training organisers, and the tendency is more towards securing
a freedom of movement and an exercising of all muscle systems. This is in contrast
to the older methods of remedial and physical work, which aimed rather at precise
movements and sustained positions. The whole tendency of recent physical
training is in this direction, free movements of a rhythmic nature supplanting the
more formal tables of the Swedish school.
" This influence is already marked in some of the more recently formed classes,
and is due to the difference in training of the teachers taking them. Of the results
it is not so easy to speak at present. The children gain in alertness, but on the
whole the gain in power of concentration and co-ordination is not so marked. Be
this as it may, I have no hesitation in saying that the children in these health classes,
after six months, nearly all show a great physical improvement in muscular tone
and general nutrition. This alone is sufficient to improve, and in some cases to
correct, the lesser degrees of postural defect.
" The classes consist of 20-28 children, and the discharges and new
admissions are about 50 per cent, during the year. The school doctors report an
improvement in physique in all these children, whilst in many cases the mental
improvement is also remarked on by the teachers. Again, it must be emphasised
that the success of these classes depends entirely on the interest of the head teacher
and of the teacher taking the class. The formation of such a class in a school
involves extra work and adjustment of time tables to a considerable extent, whilst
in addition there is the provision of suitable special class kit. The need for such
classes in the boys' departments is, I think, less, and one class has fallen into
abeyance (Central Street). There are certainly not the numbers of special postural
defects noted by the inspecting doctors in the boys' departments as there are in
the girls'."
Attention has been paid to the question of the teaching of hygiene as the
result of Sir George Newman's report on the Health of the School Child for 1926.
Dr. F. H. Spencer, the Council's Chief Inspector of Schools, has reported as
follows upon the general practice in London :—
Teaching of
hygiene.
" At the end of last year I asked each district inspector to enquire, at the
next ten or twelve schools visited, what provision was made for the teaching of
hygiene in practice and theory. Inquiries were made in 199 departments, of which
101 were boys' departments and 98 girls' or mixed. This sample, as it comprises
fairly large numbers and was chosen by the ordinary requirements of the inspectors'
duties and with no reference to the subject under enquiry, may be taken as a fair
one. The results have been ably summarised by Mr. Lilley in the succeeding
paragraphs (2-8).
Memorand urn
by the
Chief
Inspector.
2. The information shows clearly that in a large majority of the schools
visited, valuable work is being done in inculcating healthy habits. Cleanliness
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