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111
Section 48 of the Education Act.
Under this Section of the Act it is possible to send children in
need of a short recuperative holiday to a Convalescent or Holiday
Home. This is an excellent method of dealing with children who
are very debilitated either after a severe illness, such as pneumonia,
or after a series of infections, such as whooping cough, measles and
influenza—a very common sequence of events during the autumn
and winter of 1950. They quickly improve with four weeks at the
seaside or in the country, and thereby reduce the number of cases
which might have to spend a long time in a day open air school.
In 1950 some 91 children were sent away for four weeks—
41 girls and 50 boys.
Camp Convalescence.
The closing of Itchingfield School Camp is a serious blow to
the rehabilitation of a certain number of boys and girls in the
Senior Schools. The onset of puberty makes a serious call on the
physical resources of certain children, and the School Health Service
Staff have found it useful to be able either to recommend children
for a month at the Camp or to encourage parents to allow their
children to go two or three times in the school year. In a few
cases two months have been recommended ; and in 1950 there
were five girls and seven boys recommended for this longer spell
at Camp.
With the closing of the Camp in August, 1951, it is likely that
a greater call will be made on the already overcrowded waiting list
for admission to Convalescent and Holiday Homes, which are more
expensive to run.