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HEALTH EDUCATION
At the beginning of 1969 the establishment of the health education
section was increased by one assistant health education officer and it was
hoped that this would enable the section to cope with the growing demands
of schools, hospitals, colleges and other bodies. Unfortunately financial
restrictions prevented this post from being filled so once more it was
necessary to curtail the service. The effect of this on schools was offset to
some extent by the fact that the section was able to obtain the old Gale
Street Day Nursery for use as a Health Education Centre to which classes
could be sent instead of members of the health education staff attending
schools. This Centre is proving extremely useful in many other waysas
an equipment store, a workshop in which equipment maintenance can be
carried out, a drawing office for the production of visual aids and as a
lecture hall and cinema for in¬service training. The first of the in-service
courses, for health visitors and school nurses,was opened by the Chairman
of the Health Committee on l^th April, 1969*
Health Education in Schools
During the year eighteen schools asked for assistance with their
health education programmes and another required help with the Duke of
Edinburgh Award Scheme. The amount of assistance given varied considerably,
some schools having only one or two specialist lectures, others a weekly
programme, and certain selective schools two or three day 'crash' courses in
the period immediately following G.C.E. examinations. In most instances the
school staffs were able to take over large parts of the programme using visual
aids supplied by the Department to support their lectures. This is one of
the benefits we have obtained from our previous in-service training courses
for teachers and it is hoped that the current series will ultimately relieve
the Department of the more routine teaching. On the other hand the
introduction of comprehensive education in 1970 may well increase the demand
for health topics to a level considerably higher than the current one and
this is a situation which will have to be faced probably in 1971/72
The experiment commenced in the Summer Term of sending a group of
children from a neighbouring school to the Centre for discussion sessions
conducted mainly by the teachers who accompanied them, was felt by the
headmaster concerned to be particularly valuable. In the Autumn term the
same school sent three groups each week and other schools are showing interest
in the idea.
The child care courses for the National Association for Maternal and
Child Welfare examinations again proved popular, no less than five separate
examinations being held in the Borough.
In-Service Training
Three in¬service courses have been held since the Gale Street Centre
was opened in April 1969. The first of six weeks duration was for health
visitors and school nurses and was quite well attended.
A series of seven talks for daily minders was not quite so well received
but the last course, aimed at teachers training students for the child care
certificate was a great success.
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