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weather and parents are therefore more likely to apply for meals,
and teachers are more likely to urge them to do so in order to avoid
illness and suffering during the winter months.
It will be remembered that when we commenced school
feeding we used the height for weight standard as an indication of
adequate nutrition. We soon found this wanting and decided to
increase the scope of the scheme to include children who showed
evidence of malnutrition as distinct from under-nourishment.
It will therefore be found that we have certain children
attending the Centres who are actually not very much below weight
or may even be up to normal, but who show signs of defective
nutrition such as anaemia, lethargy, etc.
It frequently happens also that home circumstances are
such that children are sent to school having had little or no breakfast,
and in these cases although the weight ma}- be normal, the
child is granted free meals. For example, a child who weighed
one lb. more than the average weight for his height, stated that
his breakfast recently had consisted of bread soaked in tea.
It has been oui experience in dealing with these children to
find that the general condition begins to improve in about 2 weeks
time from the commencement of meals. The improvement is
often marked and is noticeable to the class teachers. One of the
Head Teachers, in discussing the matter said that she was impressed
by the way in which children who were restless, inattentive and
apathetic about their work, began after being fed at school to be
more restful, to concentrate on their work more and to be less of
a nuisance to their teacher.
The teaching staff give us every support in our efforts on
behalf of these children and in many cases suggest a period of rest
at school for certain bad cases, or else see that rest is obtained when
we have recommended such a course.
We have been particularly fortunate in our results, and in
going through the weight cards of all children, some of whom have
been fed since the inception of the scheme in 1932, it was found that
in no case has a child failed to gain satisfactorily in weight and height
For the sake of interest a table is given below showing the
progress of 125 children who have been selected because they have
all attended a Centre for 2 months or more, and so have been weighed
at least twice at monthly intervals. These children are all receiving
free meals and milk at present.