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30
of Nurse Evans. This deficiency was made good by the engagement
of a dental attendant, thus releasing the remaining school nurses for
more visiting and inspecting in the schools and homes. Mr. Slater,
the School Dentist, joined H.M. Forces on 9th October, 1941, and a
rota of local dentists took weekly sessions to carry on his work.
The general development of the school children in Acton is
maintaining its usual level. The only class of children showing any
depreciation in height and weight over last year, are the girls aged
7—9, where there is a difference of 1% since last year, but if the
figures for this age group are compared with those for the year 1939,
the year 1941 shows a slight improvement over 1939, so there would
appear to be no cause relating to the war or wartime feeding operating
to produce the slight lowering in nutrition.
Considerable advantage was taken of the provision of school
meals and milk. 2,970 free meals were provided to Acton school
children and 19,343 free bottles of milk were dispensed. The
percentage of children receiving school milk, either paid or free, at
the end of 1941, was extremely high, ranging from 70% to 96%,
except in one senior boys' school where only 20% of the boys took
milk. On free meals and/or milk, all children gained adequately
except 2 and these responded to the addition of cod liver oil and malt.
Attempts were made to decrease the verminous condition of
the Acton school children. All families known to be chronic
offenders in this respect, were given appointments with the Assistant
School Medical Officer, who offered cleansing facilities to the whole
family at the same time, with advice how to keep themselves from
becoming reinfected. This was undertaken before compulsory powers
of cleansing were given under the Scabies Order of 1941, but it was
found that the majority of these families were well content with their
state, desired no help, and resented as an insult being informed of
what they must have known to be a fact from the frequent exclusion
from school of their children, as verminous. There is an increase in
the number of verminous children over 1940, but none over 1939,
so the increase is presumably due to the increased school roll. At
the beginning of 1941 there were 1938 children on the roll, and at
the end of 1941 there were 3293.
Scabies continued to be a nuisance all through the year. There
were 94 cases, 59 families being affected. A table showing the distribution
of those affected is in the report. Some of these cases were
treated at home and some were sent to the Cleansing Baths at
Kensington, with which Borough Acton has an arrangement for this
purpose.