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where children clean their teeth before retiring and then are
allowed to eat sweets or biscuits before going to sleep. This
is, undoubtedly, asking for trouble.
The opening of the new Grammar School and the Gravel
Hill County Primary School during the year has meant
increased responsibility for the School Health Service but,
with a suitable adjustment in the medical staff, the additional
work has been assimilated without difficulty.
A feature of the health of schoolchildren in the Borough
for many years has been the exceptionally low rate of
infestation of schoolchildren with vermin. This is now being
recognised by a substantial reduction in the number of school
inspections by Health Visitors for this purpose. In future,
cleanliness inspections will be carried out in secondary
schools only when they are requested by head teachers. In
primary schools regular cleanliness inspections will be discontinued
where, at three consecutive inspections, no cases of
uncleanliness have been found but further inspections will
be made if requested by the head teacher or it appears that
special circumstances warrant an intensification of this work.
Once again I am happy to report on the greatly
improved facilities for speech therapy, arising out of the
extended facilities now provided at the Murchison Avenue
Clinic. Staff and parents alike are pleased that children
can now be sent for within a very short time of referral.
The Ophthalmic Clinic has, over the past nine years,
reached a high degree of stability and for this reason has
not called for any special comment. A study of the statistics
of the work carried out at this clinic on page 59 will show
that a considerable amount of work has been carried out
during the year by Dr. Chambers and his staff. It is our
intention, in future, to institute an eye examination for
5 year old as soon as possible after admission to school
and this will increase still further the work of this clinic.
In effect, each child will have a routine eye test on at least
five occasions during his school life, which should ensure
that no child experiences educational difficulty on account
of defective vision.
Once again, I wish to acknowledge the excellent
co-operation that exists between head teachers, parents,
school medical officers, health visitors and the various
specialist services upon which we call. The work of the
Education Welfare Officers is especially valuable and their
careful case reports on individual children are often the
starting point of an investigation of considerable importance
to the health of the children concerned.
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