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39
Oldfield Road Physically Defective School.—The certified accommodation at this
school is for 140 children. During the year under review the average number on the roll was 153,
the actual number on the roll on the 31st December, 1934, being 159. The average attendance for
the year was 126. There were no children awaiting admission at the 31st December, 1934.
The school takes physically defective children between 5 and 16 years of age. The staff
consists of one Head Teacher and seven full-time Assistants.
During the year 13 children were allowed to leave school before reaching the age of 16 years,
9 children were allowed to attend ordinary elementary schools, 1 child was transferred to Leinster
M.D. School, and 1 child, who was also mentally defective, was notified to the Middlesex County Council
under the Mental Deficiency Acts, 1913-27, as requiring supervision and guardianship.
The school dinners are brought from Gibbons Road Feeding Centre and are served in the School
Hall. On an average 100 of the children take the school dinners.
One trained Nurse is attached to the school. She treats minor ailments as required and supervises
the personal cleanliness and the care of the teeth and hair of the children. She arranges for
the repair of surgical instruments and boots. She also gives the children the nutritive drugs ordered
by the doctor.
The school is visited by the Certifying Medical Officer once a fortnight, and each child is seen
every six months. The parents are notified of any defects found which require attention.
The majority of the children at this school who are actually crippled attend periodically an
Orthopaedic Hospital or an Orthopaedic Department of a General Hospital; and in addition, facilities
for treatment of this kind are available at the Stonebridge Health Centre, where a Specialist visits
twice monthly and the requisite nursing staff is in daily attendance.
Convalescence.—The Education Committee have made arrangements with the Russell-Cotes
School of Recovery, Parkstone, near Bournemouth, for the reservation of places for 9 boys and 4
girls. This home was provided by the donors as a country residence near the sea for poor town boys
and girls who are anaemic and debiliated, and who are physically defective within the meaning of the
Education Act, 1921; and it is recognised by the Board of Education as a Special Residential School.
The boys and girls are selected both from the physically defective and the ordinary elementary schools,
and the duration of the stay is six weeks, except in special cases when an additional six weeks stay can
be arranged. All the cases which have been to the institution have shown a distinct improvement on
their return home. In all 66 boys and 29 girls were admitted to the school during the year.
In view of the larger number of boys than girls found to require convalescent treatment, the
Education Committee rearranged the number of places reserved for them by increasing to 11 (from 5)
those for boys at St. Dominic's Open Air School, Godalming, Surrey, and reducing to 4 (from 10)
those for girls at St. Patrick's Open Air School, Hayling Island, Hants. The children are selected
from both the physically defective and the ordinary elementary schools, and the duration of stay is
six weeks. Towards the end of the year under review, owing to the large number of children awaiting
convalescence, the Committee arranged for an additional number of temporary places to be available
at these two open air schools in order to reduce the period of waiting to approximately three months.
All the cases sent have shown a definite improvement on their return home. In all 70 boys and 52
girls were admitted during the year.
Defective Vision and Squint.—During the year 1934, 7 children attending the Special Schools
were found to be suffering from errors of refraction (including squint), and 1 child was suffering from
another defect of the eyes. They were all dealt with under the Authority's scheme. Spectacles were
prescribed for 5 children and 3 obtained them under the Authority's scheme; 1 child obtained them
from another source.
Defects of Nose and Throat.—During the year 2 children attending the Special Schools
received operative treatment under the Authority's scheme, and 1 child received other forms of
treatment.
Orthopaedic and Postural Defects.—During the year 21 children attending the Special
Schools were treated; 4 of these received residential treatment with education, and 17 non-residential
treatment at an orthopaedic clinic under the Authority's scheme.
During the year there were 119 Special School cases referred for following up with the view of
medical treatment being obtained, remedial measures carried out, or other action taken.
Work of the Willesden Branch of the Invalid Children's Aid Association, 1934—
199 new cases were referred to this Association during the year, 48 of these being referred by the
Willesden Health Department. The majority of the patients were suffering from anaemia and debility.
In addition 15 surgical appliances were supplied.
Stammering Children.—There are three classes for stammering children held twice weekly
at Wesley Road, Leinster Road and Chamberlayne Wood Road Schools, and conducted by Mr. A. D.
Bradfield. The class at Leinster Road consists of boys, and the classes at Wesley Road and Chamberlayne
Wood Road include both boys and girls. Each class lasts one hour. Cases of stammering are
referred to the Health Department for examination as to their suitability for admission to the
stammering class.