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DAY NURSERIES
There are 9 day nurseries with a total of 440 approved places. (Table 1.)
Rules of Admission.
The main principle for admission to day nurseries is the health of the mother and child.
Children from 0 to 5 years of age are accepted if:—
(a) their mothers are unsupported.
(b) the home conditions are unsatisfactory.
(c) the mothers cannot look after their children adequately.
The following conditions must also apply:—
(a) there is no other satisfactory way of caring for the child.
(b) that it will not affect the health of the child.
(c) that it will assist in the support of the child.
(d) that the mother of the child works for at least 30 hours per week.
If after satisfying the above conditions, there are still some vacancies, the County Council will
accept children over 2 years of age, where their parents are willing to pay the full cost.
Application for Admission.
The number of applications during the year (608) was almost double the number of children who
left, but only two in three were admitted. The majority of the remainder found the assessment too high.
(Table 2.)
Almost half the children come from homes where the mother is the sole supporter, and altogether
about three-quarters are priority cases. (Table 3.)
Assessed Daily Charge.
On the 1st December, 1952, the standard charge for day nursery accommodation was increased
from 2/- to 9/- per day, with reductions according to means. Applicants who feel unable to pay
the assessed daily charge can attend a meeting of an Appeals sub-committee, where they may obtain a
reduction of the assessed charge. The assessments after all appeals, are shown in Table 4 (Feb., 1953).
In November, 1953, the assessment scale was revised, and the assessments following appeals are
shown in Table 4 (May, 1954).
The two groups of assessment are not strictly comparable because there has been some change in
the parents, due to admissions and discharges from the day nurseries during the period concerned.
Attendances.
Attendances of children at day nurseries in 1954 was 7% above those in 1953; almost reaching the
high level of 1952, before the new scale of charges was introduced (Table 1). Most of the day nurseries
were used to their full capacity.
There is a considerable turn-over in the children attending the nurseries, and there is often an
interval, while the parent is being assessed, until a vacancy can be filled. More than half the children who
were in the nursery at the beginning of the year had left by the end of the year for reasons including
going to school, leaving the district, mother having another baby or giving up work for various reasons.
(Table 2.)
Day Nursery Provision.
Day nursery provision in the Kilburn area is inadequate and the premises are unsuitable. There
is a waiting list for accommodation, even though some children in this area are placed in other nurseries
at a considerable distance from their homes or the mother's work; many are placed with daily minders,
and many more, knowing the difficulty of obtaining accommodation, do not even apply for admission to a
day nursery.
Infectious Diseases.
There were very few outbreaks of infectious diseases in the nurseries, and one nursery had no
cases at all; in three others it was restricted to one or two cases. The more serious outbreaks were imported
from families of the children attending and were minor illnesses such as chicken pox and mumps. (Table 5.)