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School meals and milk
The Ministry of Education asked for a return for a typical day of the total number of
(i) day school children who had school dinners and (ii) children who had school milk.
The day selected for the census was 25 September or the nearest normal school day thereto.
The figures are set out below with those for 1961 in brackets.
Number of Number who took
Type of school children school dinners
present On payment Free Total %
Secondary 165,861 99,416 7,499 106,915 64.46
(173,329) (103,139) (7,470) (110,609) (63.81)
Primary 205,032 111,522 12,703 124,225 61.48*
(205,994) (109,150) (12,382) (121,532) (59.00)
Special 5,640 4,424 1,149 5,573 98.81
(5,585) (4,411) (1,098) (5,509) (98.64)
Nursery 1,634 868 79 947 96.34†
(1,509) (870) (87) (957) (99.17)
378,167 216,230 21,430 237,660 63.45‡
(386,417) (217,570) (21,037) (238,607) (61.75)
*Percentage of 202,064 children, as 2,968 children attended half time and did not have dinners.
†Percentage of 983 children, as 651 children attended half time and did not have dinners.
‡Percentage of 374,548 children.
The Ministry was informed that 308,095 children in Council maintained schools took
milk on the selected day(s) compared with 316,826 in September 1961. Of 29,030 children
present in independent schools, 21,662 had milk under the scheme. The percentages for
the several types of school for the corresponding days were:
1958 1959 1960 1961 1962
Secondary 71.45 69.23 66.05 63.12 61.08
Primary 97.52 96.82 96.32 96.51 96.01
Day special 98.44 98.83 98.47 99.18 97.32
Nursery 98.78 98.64 98.51 98.67 97.86
Boarding 98.78 98.12 98.51 97.52 98.41
Independent 77.10 76.67 74.60 77.66 74.62
Vision
Visual acuity standards expressed as percentages of the numbers of children whose eyes
were tested are set out in the following table.
For children not wearing spectacles the highest rate of referral for treatment is at age
under 7 (entrants), but this is because vision testing at this young age is not general and
tends to be confined to those in whom there is a suspicion of defective vision. In general
the referral rate for treatment is fairly consistent throughout the age range, i.e., development
of defective vision is progressive with age, since those found to have defective vision
at earlier examination and provided with spectacles will be excluded from this side of the
table at subsequent examinations.
For children already wearing spectacles the proportions referred for treatment increase
with age, doubtless for correction of refraction.
Of the children medically inspected 0.6 per cent. were noted for treatment of squint,
the same as in the past three years. The percentage ranged from 1.2 in the entrant group to
0.1 in the leaver group.
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