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65
MEDICAL INSPECTION OF SCHOOL CHILDREN.
FINCHLEY URBAN DISTRICT COUNCIL.
To the Chairman and Members of the Education
Committee.
Miss Shoults and Gentlemen,—
I have the honour to submit the following report on the
Medical Examination of the children attending the Elementary
Schools under your direction, as required by the
Education (Administrative Provisions) Act, 1907.
SCOPE OF THE ACT.
The Act came into operation on January 1st, 1908. Its
provisions have been supplemented by two circulars issued
by the Board of Education, which set out in considerable
detail the requirements of the Act and suggestions as to the
scope of the Medical Examination. The first circular (issued
at the beginning of last year) sets out the scope and purposes
of the Act, and points out the advisability of its administration
resting "upon a broad basis of Public Health, so that the
examinations should become an integral factor in the health
of the nation." The second circular requires, as a condition
of Government Grant, that all children who will be leaving
school at Midsummer, 1908, shall be examined before that
date.
MAIN FEATURES OF THE ACT.
Although by means of this examination many anthropometric
details of much interest and value can be obtained,
yet the main feature is to recognise those conditions of health
which unfit the child for school life, and those defects in the
child which prevent it from benefiting to the fullest extent