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Year of Birth
Number of
Pupils inspected
Physical Condition of
Pupils inspected
Satisfactory
Unsatisfactory
Number
%
Number
%
1968 & later
386
386
100.
1967
1,948
1,944
99.8
4
0.2
1966
1,992
1,992
100.
–
–
1965
602
602
100.
–
–
1964
453
453
100.
–
–
1963
383
383
100.
–
–
1962 *
* 627
627
99.8
1
0.2
1961 *
* 845
842
99.6
3
0.4
1960 *
* 503
503
100.
–
–
1959
390
390
100.
–
–
1958
244
244
100.
–
–
1957 & earlier
1,421
1,420
99.9
1
0.1
TOTAL
9,794
9,786
99.9
9
0.1
"Signifies Selective Medical Examinations
In the Appendix to this report a table is included giving the number of children found at periodic medical
inspections to require treatment.
"U" Children 1972
9 children seen at routine medical examinations were classified by the examining doctor as "unsatisfactory" i.e.
whose physical condition on general inspection appeared unsatisfactory. This included grossly obese (as well as
undersized) children — a condition particularly difficult to treat, which must give rise to anxiety about the
future health of such children. Obesity in the community should be regarded as at least as serious to health as
smoking.
Other Medical Inspections
The following are the numbers of special inspections and reinspections carried out during 1972. A special
inspection is one which is carried out at the special request of a parent, doctor, nurse or a teacher, usually at a
school clinic.
Number of special inspections 2,199
Number of reinspections 3,043
TOTAL 5,242
Medical Treatment
Details are given in the Appendix of treatment (excluding uncleanliness and dental defects) of pupils attending
maintained primary and secondary schools (including nursery and special schools), whether provided directly by
the Council or arranged through other agencies.
Handicapped Pupils
The Education Act 1944 places upon local Education Authorities the duty of ascertaining handicapped pupils in
their areas and of providing special educational treatment for such children. Although it is the duty of the local
authority to ascertain these children from the age of 2 years, it is desirable, especially in the case of blind, deaf
and cerebral palsied children, that the defects be discovered before this age so that steps may be taken to help the
child to develop as normally as possible despite his handicap. Therapeutic education cannot start too early in the
life of a child and his parents, whatever the handicap.
The School Health Service and Handicapped Pupils Regulations 1953 defined the various categories of
handicapped pupils as follows:—
(a) Blind — pupils who have no sight or whose sight is likely to become so defective that they require education
by methods not involving the use of sight.
(b) Partially sighted — pupils who by reason of defective vision cannot follow the normal regime of ordinary
schools without detriment to their sight or to their educational development, but can be educated by
special methods involving the use of sight.
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