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found to require medical treatment and 52 were found to require dental treatment, and the following
table gives a return of the defects found at medical and dental inspection:—

Oldfield Road Physically Defective School.—The certified accommodation at this
school is for 165 children. During the year under review the average number on the roll was 170,
the actual number on the roll on the 31st December, 1937, being 161 (including 22 children from the
Middlesex area). The average attendance for the year was 139. There were no children awaiting
admission at the 31st December, 1937.
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 8 children were allowed to leave school before reaching the age of 16 years,
12 children were allowed to attend ordinary elementary schools, 1 child was recommended for transfer
to a residential institution for epileptics, and 1 child, who was also mentally defective, was notified
to the Middlesex County Council under the Mental Deficiency Acts, 1913-27.
The school dinners are brought from Gibbons Road Feeding Centre and are served in the School
Hall. On an average 102 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 at 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
weekly 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 debilitated, 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.
The Education Committee have also made arrangements for the reservation of 4 places for
boys and 11 places for girls at St. Dominic's Open Air School, Godalming, and St. Patrick's Open Air
School, Hayling Island, respectively. The children are selected from both the physically defective
and the ordinary elementary schools, and the duration of stay is six weeks. All the cases sent have
shown a definite improvement on their return home. In all 46 boys and 71 girls were admitted during
the year.