London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Leyton 1955
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Leyton]
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61
finally been turned down. He is, as a matter of fact, correctly placed
in Harrow Green E.S.N. School and is making progress and is very happy
there.
CHILD GUIDANCE CLINIC.
Miss M. Marshall, Educational Psychologist to both the Forest and
Leyton Divisions, reports as follows:—
Work in the School Psychological Service.
It may be noticed that all the reports of the educational Psychologist
to the Leyton and Forest Divisions in Essex during the last few
years begin with a reference to expanding work. The report for 1955
is no exception. The school population continues to increase and has now
reached the figure of approximately 44,000 in these two Divisions. (The
total for the two Divisions is approximately 49,000, but the Chingford
schools are served by the Walthamstow psychologist.)
The rapidly increasing school population in Harlow and the eagerness of the teachers there to use the School Psychological Service has been largely responsible for the greater number of children seen in the Forest Division.
| Division | Boys | Girls | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forest | 202 | 95 | 297 |
| Leyton | 107 | 41 | 148 |
| Total | 309 | 136 | 445 |
This year all these children were interviewed and tested individually
by the Educational Psychologist, who did not have any assistance from
student psychologists.
The reasons for referral to the psychologist were
1. Backwardness (including backwardness in reading) 257
2. Educational advice (other than for backwardness) 42
3. Behaviour problems at home 80
4. Behaviour problems at school 59
5. Requests from other agencies, e.g., Probation Officer,
Children's Officer, etc. 5
6. Children with physical symptoms, e.g., Tic, Enuresis,
Stammer, etc. 40
Some children, of course, are referred for two or more reasons,
e.g., behaviour problems and backwardness.
During the year the psychologist made 187 school visits, of which
69 were to Leyton schools and 118 to Forest Schools. Of these, 80 were
concerned with children referred to the Child Guidance Clinic.
Requests for lectures continued to come in and 21 talks were given
during the year, 7 during the day and 14 in the evenings (8 in Leyton
and 13 in the Forest Division.
There were 9 "migrant" pupils this year, i.e., children with "Central"
school places obtained in other areas. Interviews with parents and
tests for the children were necessary to decide which kind of Secondary
education was most suitable. Now that Bi-lateral Secondary schools
have been opened in Harlow, this particular duty of the psychologist will
not be necessary any longer in that area.