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REPORT ON THE SCHOOL HEALTH SERVICE
DURING THE YEAR 1960.
To the Chairman and Members of the Bexley Committee
for Education.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit my Annual Report for
the year 1960.
During the year the School Health Service continued
to provide a full range of services, details of which are
set out in the body of the report. There were, however, a
number of new developments which are dealt with in the
following paragraphs.
One of the most important was the coming into operation,
as from April 1st, 1960 of the School Psychological
Service. For many years teachers have been able to call on
the Child Guidance Clinic, and particularly on the Educational
Psychologist, for advice on specific learning difficulties
of children in school. Such children often need remedial
teaching and the object of the new service is to extend these
advisory facilities and to make them an integral part of
schooling. It should be borne in mind, however, that although
the Child Guidance Clinic is regarded as a medical
service and the School Psychological Service as an educational
one, there is only a thin dividing line between the
two if, indeed, there is any line at all. The Chief Medical
Officer of the Ministry of Education in his report for 1958/
1959 expresses the view that the two services "must work
closely together—the one is complementary to the other, not
a competitor." I think one can say that in Bexley this viewpoint
is fully accepted.
Closely linked with the establishment of the School
Psychological Service are plans to provide two further special
classes in Junior Schools, making four in all—the last two
being in Infants Schools. These special classes cater for
educationally retarded children who require more individual
tuition in smaller classes and we may now expect a further
reduction in the number of children who fail to make satisfactory
progress. These classes do much to promote the
psychological health of the children in addition to the educational
advantages they bestow. Admissions are often the
result of recommendations from the School Medical Officers
and this exemplifies the usefulness of a health service so
closely integrated with education. In fact it is this unique
feature of the School Health Service which has ensured its
survival notwithstanding the great changes brought about
by health legislation during the past 50 years.
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