View report page

7
The Council has undertaken the examination of a fourth age group, namely,
children who are leaving school. This examination takes place in the term prior
to that in which the children are due to leave school. The results of this examination
are available at the school-leaving conference, and are of assistance in determining
the choice of a suitable occupation. Coming at the end of the school career, the
examination is useful in estimating the results of medical attention received since
the children entered school.
This year's "leaver" group was formed of the children born in the year 1917-18,
and consequently the numbers are small, consisting of 19,276 boys and 19,478 girls
only. In nutrition they were found to be better than the younger groups, only 3 • 6 per
cent. of the boys and 2.9 per cent, girls being classed as poorly nourished, compared
with 5.2 per cent. boys and 4.2 per cent, girls in the 12-year age groups.
In personal cleanliness this group also shows an improvement on the 12-year
olds, 98.1 per cent, boys and 95.4 per cent. girls having perfectly clean heads. On
the other hand, the dental condition of this group was found to be slightly inferior
to that of the 12-yearold group, for both boys and girls, the percentage with satisfactory
mouths being 74 in the case of boys, and 74-8 in the case of girls, compared with
74.6 and 76.2 respectively in the 12-year old group. In other respects the "leaver"
children showed an improvement in health over the 12-year old group, with the exception
of spinal curvature which affected the girls, but not the boys, to a greater
degree.
An analysis of the results of medical inspection of children in the age groups
does not tell the whole story with regard to the health of the children in the schools.
The children are, day by day, under the intelligent observation of their teachers,
the school care committees, and the school nurses, and any gross variation from health
is unlikely to pass unnoticed.
The number of children, not in the age groups for routine examinations, submitted
to the school doctors as special cases was 90,248, and this figure does not include
another 25,596 which came under inspection in the course of enquiries into outbreaks
of infectious diseases.
Although the number of children seen at special inspections was much less than
one-half of the number seen in the routine age groups, yet in the case of many diseases
the actual numbers found in the former generally exceed those in the latter. Thus
999 children with scabies were referred for treatment at special inspections, compared
with 99 only at routine inspections. Heart trouble requiring treatment was detected
in 267 children at special inspections, compared with 248 at routine inspections. So
far as tuberculosis is concerned 98 children were referred for treatment from special
inspections, but only 32 from routine inspections (including that of the "extra"
leaver group). In regard to epileptics 96 first came to notice at special inspections,
compared with 20 at routine inspections; and 240 children with chorea were referred
for treatment at special inspections, compared with 82 at routine examinations.
It is clear, therefore, that full advantage is being taken of the doctors' visits
to the schools and that really ailing children are promptly brought under medical
advice.
In 1931 there were no striking changes in the physical state of the children, but
the general improvement which has taken place during the preceding years has
continued, and new records have been achieved. Personal hygiene in particular
has made noteworthy advance; the nutritional state of the child population has
been maintained. Nowhere is there any sign of falling off. Although minor conditions
of departure from health remain common, yet the grosser manifestations of disease
are becoming more and more rare. The special supervision of rheumatic conditions
in the school child is reflected in the lessened incidence of cardiac disease.
The progress during school life is towards healthier conditions, and the leaver
child is the healthiest of all the groups, both in boys and girls, save for a slight failure
to maintain the improvement in dental conditions, and the continued slight increase
of spinal curvature in the older girls, who, at the end of elementary school life, are
growing faster than the boys.
The health
of the
leaving child.
Special
examinations.
Conclusions.