View report page

— 53 —
INFECTIOUS DISEASE.
During the year the returns of non-notifiable infectious disease
made weekly by the Head-teachers to the School Medical Officer
indicated the total absentees from school as 784 due to measles,
24 to whooping cough, 117 to chickenpox, and 127 due to mumps.
Drayton Infants' School was closed on account of measles
from the 3rd to 31st March, and Lammas Infants' School for a
similar reason was closed from the 1st to 17th April.
It has beer the usual practice with regard to public elementary
schools in Haling to close a school, not to prevent the spread of
any infectious disease which may be prevalent, but to save the
grant when the percentage attendance has fallen below 55 per
cent.
By the Elementary Education Provisional Code, 1922, Amending
Regulation No. 2, 1924, school closure can now only take place
for purely medical reasons. If the average attendance of a school
or department for any week be reduced below 60 per cent, of the
number of children on the registers, and the Local Education
Authority be satisfied by a certificate from the School Medical
Officer that the fall in attendance to so low a percentage may
reasonably be attributed to the prevalence of epidemic illness in
the district, the meetings and attendances for that week need
not be reckoned in calculating the average attendance for the
purposes of the Board's grant. This new regulation will mean
that in future school closure to prevent the spread of infectious
disease will be a very unusual occurrence, for rarely is it considered
advisable to close a school in preference to the daily supervision
of suspected cases and absentees, which latter procedure is only
possible when the school is open.