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18
This reflects the increasing interest in psychological problems
within the Service and justifies the in-service training which
has been given during the year on psychiatric problems in childhood.
Relationships between the School Health Service and the
Child Guidance Clinic continue to be excellent and have been
strengthened by the attachment of a school medical officer for
two sessions each week and by the provision of ancillary staff
in recognition of the increased area for which the Clinic has
agreed to assume responsibility.
Height and Weight
The figures of average heights and weights are recorded in
Table 7. It was not the practice to weigh and measure children
in the southern part of the Borough so that figures for 1965
must be compared with those from the County Borough area only in
previous years. It is apparent that the steady increase in
average heights and weights which was such a feature of earlier
years has now ceased. Increasing attention is now being given to
variations within these averages. There is some evidence that
only children are taller and heavier than their colleagues who
are members of large families. Moreover the problem of individual
children who are seriously overweight is causing increasing
concern. Research studies confirm that overweight children
become overweight adults and the risks to health which the
latter experience have long been known. It is difficult to persuade
parents who may themselves have experienced want in childhood,
that it may not be in the interests of their own children
for them to be fed indiscriminately. Dr. Thelma Wield has drawn
attention this year to the increasing number of overweight
children especially amongst the girls in secondary schools.
Whilst many of the latter are willing to try to lose weight, a
proportion of them are not, and occasionally mothers express
indignation at the suggestion that it is necessary.
Dr. Phyllis Gibbons has reviewed the subject of obesity in
an Appendix to this report (page 64) and she has described the
work of an experimental clinic which has been created under her
supervision to determine whether the School Health Service can
make a useful contribution in this field.