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By 1910 there were 90 school nurses with a superintendent and two assistants to the
superintendent. Their duties consisted chiefly in assisting at the medical examination of
schoolchildren ; making systematic visits under the direction of the Council's medical
officer to the schools allotted to them, paying due regard in all such work to the
necessity of using as much tact as possible with teachers, parents and children ;
examining children for all forms of obvious uncleanliness and disease ; advising the
teachers in regard to the exclusion from school of doubtful cases ; applying the cleansing
schemes ; visiting the children's homes and advising the parents about treatment.
For the purpose of carrying out the schemes for personal cleanliness each nurse was
placed in charge of a district containing from seven to fifteen schools. A rota was
arranged so that every school was visited at least once a month. The homes of children
with verminous bodies and clothing were visited, and, if found to be unclean, the
Medical Officer for the district was asked to deal with them under the London County
Council (General Powers) Act, 1904, Part IV. Reports were made on children found
in circumstances which might render it desirable for them to be dealt with under the
Children Act, 1908, with a view to action being taken for their safety and protection,
and for the punishment of the parent or guardian.
The arrangements which were in force by 1911 for the compulsory cleansing of
children in accordance with the powers conferred upon the Council by the Children
Act were amended from time to time by agreements with the Borough Councils
(particularly with regard to the enlargement of the stations) and, as occasion demanded,
the Council itself established more ccntres. In order to deal better with the cases where
infestation was confined to nits only, the Council decided in 1920 that special arrangements
should be made for the treatment of such children in premises apart from the
ordinary cleansing centres.
Powers had been given to the Borough Councils (as local sanitary authorities) in 1904
for cleansing, purifying or destroying articles and cleansing verminous dwellings.
Under the cleansing scheme, local boroughs were notified of all children bodily infested
and of persistent head infestation. Thus, while the school child was being dealt with
under the cleansing scheme, the local sanitary authority was given the opportunity of
dealing with other members of the family, the bedding and clothing, and also with the
actual dwelling. Extended powers to deal with verminous bedding and clothing,
etc., were given to the Borough Councils in the London County Council (General
Powers) Act, 1922.
Under Section 126 of the Public Health (London) Act, 1936, powers were conferred
upon the Council, as local education authority, to examine the person or clothing of
any child, for vermin or other foul or filthy condition, attending any school provided or
maintained by the Council. The school nursing sisters examine all pupils of compulsory
school age once a term under this provision and more frequently if necessary.
A similar provision in Section 54 of the Education Act, 1944, is applied to pupils over
compulsory school age, who are also examined once a term by the school nursing
sisters. When a child is found at these examinations to be in a verminous condition, the
parents are advised, and if they elect they may send the child to one of the 32 bathing
centres made available either by the Council or by agreement between the Council
and the Borough Councils. If parents fail to have their child cleansed to the satisfaction
of the school nursing sister, statutory provisions exist to enforce cleansing.
In addition to the termly hygiene inspections, school nursing sisters note all departures
from normal health and report children deemed to require medical examination ;
assist school doctors in their work ; weigh and measure the children, and test their
vision on entrance to school and at the ages of seven and eleven, and finally in the term
before that in which the children attain the age of 15 years.
The work of the school nursing sisters in connection with audiometer testing is
described in the section dealing with deaf and partially deaf children on page 192.
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