View report page

66
crawl stroke and whether, as in the United States of America,
this stroke should be taught in preference to the other strokes.
In this country the tendency is to develop from the breast and
back strokes to the trudgeon and the crawl, but the view is growing
that the crawl should be taught earlier in life and earlier in the course
of instruction. With suitable instruction the crawl is not so difficult
when taught early in life and it is not so strenuous as was once
thought to be, for it has been shown that the stroke can be a fast
or a slow one as the swimmer wishes. It is undoubtedly the fastest
sprinting stroke, but Americans have shown that it is also applicable
to long distance swimming. Our swimming instructors appreciate
the value of this stroke and are now devoting more attention to it.
By suitable apparatus, which has recently been devised by a
swimming instructor in London, the principles of the crawl stroke
can be inculcated out of the water. The Education Committee
has provided two sets of this apparatus for the use of school
children.
During the year the school children in the added areas of
Hanwell and Greenford schools have for the first time been given
facilities for learning to swim in the same way as the children in the
schools in the original Borough.
PROVISION OF MEALS.
Meals are not provided for school children under Sections 82
and 85 of the Education Act. On the infrequent occasions on
which children are found to be insufficiently fed, the teachers
provide out of voluntary funds supplementary food in the form of
biscuits and milk or cocoa and milk. The numbers of such children
are not sufficiently large to call for organised methods of providing
meals in school.
CO-OPERATION OF OTHERS IN THE
SCHOOL MEDICAL SERVICE.
A marked change has taken place in the attitude of the parents
since school medical inspection began. It is very rarely that an
objection is made to medical inspection. The rule is that the parents
welcome it and are most anxious to get advice regarding the care of