View report page

16.
SCHOOL HEATLH SERVICES.
I an glad to report that the health of the children attending school
was well maintained. The incidence of infectious diseases remained low
and the nutritional standard of the children was well maintained.
As a result of the passing of the Education Act, 1944, the Middlesex
County Council became the Local Education Authority as from 1st April, 1945.
In the subsequent scheme of divisional administration the Borough of Hendon
became an excepted district and the scheme as ultimately formulated leaves
the conduct and co-ordination of the School Health Services very largely
under the control of the Borough Council, The same medical, health visiting,
administrative and clerical staff are engaged in the School Health Services
as are engaged in the Maternity and Child Welfare Services, child life being
regarded throughout as an entity, with the family as the unit. The
advantages of this procedure need hardly be stressed, providing as it does
economy in staff with a continuity of supervision.

I cannot stress too much the importance of these routine and special
examinations, as they permit of a skilled observer correcting a defect before
it has reached a stage in which treatment could not achieve as satisfactory a
result. One feature of the special examinations worthy of note is the
steadily increasing number of children referred for examination because they are
suspected of being mentally handicapped. These children are generally referred
by the Teachers because of their inability to maintain their educational
position with other children of the same age. The numbers of children referred
because of behaviour problems still increases. This may be partly due to the
aftermath of the war, the disturbances of family life and to a keener appreciation
of the abnormal both by parents and teachers.