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220
It will be seen that, of the 1,392 pupils in attendance at these
secondary schools in the area, 791 (56.89 per cent.) are actually
resident in Leyton, and 764 (54.56 per cent.) previously attended
Leyton elementary schools. These figures do not include Leyton
elementary school children who are now in attendance at County
High Schools outside the Borough.
Until they reached the age of 11 years these children had been
eligible to take advantage of the Leyton Education Authority's
comprehensive scheme of clinic medical services for the treatment
of minor ailments, eye defects, orthopaedic defects, dental defects,
unhealthy tonsils and adenoids, ringworm, etc.; and arrangements
are in existence for the treatment in approved convalescent homes
of children in need of it.
As soon, however, as a Leyton elementary school child has
shown sufficient scholastic ability to gain admission to a County
Secondary School, he becomes ineligible for any of the forms of
medical treatment outlined above unless there should happen to
be a special arrangement in existence for the treatment by the
Local Education Authority on behalf of the County Authority.
Although the County arranges for the routine medical inspection
of secondary school children, it provides no facilities for the treatment
of ascertained defects. The child of more than average ability
is therefore penalised from a health service point of view owing to
the fact that he has gained admission to a County High School.
The secondary school child who conscientiously performs all
his allotted homework belongs to one of the overworked sedentary
occupations. Although Education Authorities have some control
over the general hygienic conditions in schools, e.g., lighting,
ventilation, etc., they do not concern themselves with the conditions
in which the children have to work for two or three hours every
night at home. Unfortunately these conditions are often so unsatisfactory
as to impose a considerable strain on the health of the
children ; and it is in the case of such children, debilitated by the
lack of fresh air and exercise, that the correction of existing defects
is of great importance. In after life a child may suffer no inconvenience
whatever by the loss of much of the knowledge he has
acquired in the classroom, but the loss of his teeth or his health
will assuredly prove a handicap to him all through life. It should
be recognised that the price of scholastic success is too great if it is
bought at the expense of health.