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COUNTY BOROUGH OF CROYDON
ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE PRINCIPAL
SCHOOL MEDICAL OFFICER
FOR THE YEAR
1957
To the Chairman and Members of the Education Committee.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,
In presenting for your consideration, the Report of the
Principal School Medical Officer for the year ending December
31st, 1957, I make the following preliminary comments: -
The basic functions of the service continued unchanged,
namely, to supervise general hygiene and prevent the spread of
infection: to detect by routine medical and dental examinations,
significant deviations, from normal development: to ascertain
special categories of handicapped pupils and advise on appropriate
methods of education; to provide general dental treatment and
also some essential medical services not available from other
sources.
Emphasis on another aspect of School Health work was made
possible by the appointment to the Health Department of an Officer
concerned solely with Health Education. While individual doctors
and nurses do take every opportunity to give advice on health
matters at interviews with parents and children, they are not
usually trained to give formal group instruction in the schools.
In this activity, we are now judged against modern teaching
methods and even perhaps in relation to advertising television
techniques. It is not therefore a task for the untrained amateur.