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the existing accommodation at Ellingham Road Nursery. These
proposals, with the necessary plans and specifications, were forwarded
to the Ministry of Health. In May, 1944, the Minister
of Health indicated that, after full consideration of all present
circumstances, it had been decided that the scheme submitted by
your Council for the erection of a new nursery in the Lea Bridge
area should not proceed ; and in June, 1944, decided that the
scheme for the extension of Ellingham Road Nursery should be
abandoned.
Attendances.
From the table on page 38 it will be seen that the attendances
at Knotts Green and Ellingham Road Nurseries were good
for the first six months of the year. As a result of the "flying
bomb" menace, which commenced in June, the attendances during
July and August were less than half what they had been previously.
Subsequently there was a gradual improvement in attendances,
but these attendances had not regained their normal level by the
end of the year.
Outbreak of Sonne Dysentery at Knotts Green Day Nursery.
On 12th October it was reported that two children attending
Knotts Green Day Nursery were absent suffering from diarrhoea,
with blood and mucus in the stools. It was discovered that a
probationer, who had been working temporarily in a nursery
outside London, and had returned to duty in Leyton on 2nd
October, had been off duty during September with an illness which
had been diagnosed as "gastric influenza," but whose symptoms
had included diarrhoea and vomiting. At that time several
children in the Nursery where she was working were absent on
account of dysentery.
Rectal swabs from the two children with symptoms and from
the probationer (now free from symptoms) were all returned
positive for Sonne dysentery. Subsequently all members of the
staff and all the children who were then attending the nursery were
swabbed, and the swabs were delivered to the laboratory on the
day they were taken. No other members of the staff gave positive
swabs. Of the 39 children, 14 gave positive swabs. Two were
considered sufficiently ill to be removed to hospital. In three cases
there were no symptoms reported, and in two other cases the