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children, and that 407 children were recorded as verminous
in varying degrees. It is to be noted that the standard of
cleanliness is high; a child with but one nit is recorded in
the figure of 407. Only by maintaining a high standard
can one eliminate vermin from the schools. Twelve
parents were cautioned by the Local Authority under the
Attendance Bye-laws with temporary success, and if one
could bring under control the younger children in these
families the school child would not be " infected " and so
suffer the disgrace that is to-day associated with a " dirty
head."
Table III.—Return of Exceptional Children (page 117).
This table indicates the type and number of
exceptional children: blind and partially sighted; deaf and
partially deaf; mentally defective; epileptic and physically
defective children. It further indicates the children who
are maintained and educated by the Local Education
Authority in special day or residential schools. A list of
all exceptional children in the area is compiled from
returns made continuously during the year and kept
constantly up-to-date. This table is made up from the list
of exceptional children as it stands at the end of each
calendar year, and therefore it will be appreciated that a
certain number of these cases would in some instances
have been admitted to special day or residential schools in
a previous year and discharged during the course of the
year under review, and in other cases have been admitted
and discharged during the course of the year. The annual
cost of these cases to the Local Education Authority
amounts to approximately £900.
Infectious Diseases in Schools.
The usual routine has been carried out as in previous
years. An increase in Diphtheria and Scarlet Fever
continued to cause loss of school attendance. The
following tabulation gives a summary of the Head
Teachers' returns during 1934; which shows the loss of
school attendance as a consequence of non-notifiable
disease. I believe that if one could have the staff to
follow-up measles cases one would be better able to control
the spread of the disease.