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12. SPECIAL SCHOOLS.
Faircross School continued to function, the number of
Physioally defective children on the roll being Sixty-seven and
Mentally defective forty-five.
Nineteen sessions of School medical inspection were
carried out.
13. OPEN-AIR EDUCATION.
(a) The suspension of week-end school camps continued
throughout 1943.
(b) No. 5 NATIONAL SCHOOL CAMP, HYDON HEATH.
Hydon Heath Camp School continued to function
and the Camp Matron sends me an interesting report each week which
future historians, if these come to their notice, will find an
interesting commentary of the days in which we are living.
The number of ohildren in the Camp during the year
varied from One hundred and fifty to One hundred and eighty.
This is quite a fair sized Camp, and notwithstanding its size
the amount of infectious disease has been remarkably small. Two
children only had colds sufficiently serious to give than a
temperature, three children had mumps and five children suffered
from impetigo. I doubt whether there is any similar body of
children elsewhere which can show a better record. What has
struck me also is the relative freedom of the children at the
Camp from infestation by nits and lice. This Camp has shewn that
the degree of infestation which, unfortunately, we have come to
look upon as quite usual, can be reduced almost to nothing if
people have the opportunity of living under decent conditions and
make the best of these conditions.
Naturally, when thinking of this favourable
condition I think of our Camp Matron, Miss Everett, and, of course,
a lot of the credit it due to her. I also want to pay a very
generous tribute of praise to Miss Jakeways, the Headmistress,
and her staff, who are maintaining at this Camp a very high
standard of personal hygiene.
The accident rate is not high. There were only
fifteen accidents during the year and I know of no way of allowing
children to enjoy themselves, and by sturdy independence to become
self reliant, without having a few tumbles. I am happy to say
that all the accidents, save one, need not be looked upon as serious
from a surgical standpoint.