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15
40 were attending St. Giles' School
3 were attending St. Margaret's School, Croydon.
4 were attending Residential Schools for Physically
Handicapped children.
1 was attending St. Christopher's School.
12 were attending The Spastic Centre.
1 was attending a Unit for Partially Hearing Pupils.
1 was attending a normal private school.
Psychological Defects
Once again there was a sharp increase in the number of psychological
defects which were being supervised by the school medical
officers themselves, with little or no increase in the number of children
referred for specialist advice. It is encouraging to note that more children
with psychological problems are being recognised at the school medical
inspection since this justifies the improvements in the procedure which
have been made during the last two years. The Child Guidance Clinic is,
however, working to the limit of its capacity so that it is essential that
the school medical officers should themselves accept responsibility for
the therapeutic care of most of the milder forms of disturbance. Relationships
between the School Health Service and the Child Guidance Clinic
continue to be excellent. The attachment of a school medical officer has
continued during the year and the service has accepted increased
responsibility for the provision of ancillary staff at the Clinic. Such
members of staff work under the clinical direction of Dr. Crosse, but are
administratively responsible to the Principal School Medical Officer.
Height and Weight
The figures of average heights and weights are recorded in Table 7.
Children in all areas of the Borough are now weighed and measured at
the initial and at the final school medical inspection. Studies in other
Boroughs suggest that the differences in the heights and weights of
children in "good" and "poor" residential districts are lessening but still
exist. There is some evidence that only children are taller and heavier
than their colleagues who are members of large families. The satisfactory
average figures must therefore be interpreted with some caution in
view of the variations within the mean. The importance of recognising
overweight children and providing treatment for those who will accept it
was stressed in last year's report. The Committee have now resolved
that the experimental clinic for overweight schoolgirls which was developed
by Dr. Gibbons should be continued on a permanent basis, and
a report of the work will be found on page 28. In addition some progress
has been made in the provision of suitable facilities for overweight
schoolboys under the clinical direction of Dr. Simmonds.