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145
EMPLOYMENT OF CHILDREN
Under Section 59 of the Education Act 1944, education authorities
are empowered to prohibit or restrict the employment of a child if they
consider it would be prejudicial to his health or otherwise render him
unfit to obtain the full benefit of the education provided for him.
All children must, therefore, be medically examined before taking up
employment.
Number of children examined and found fit for employment
during 1966 434
REPORT OF THE PRINCIPAL SCHOOL DENTAL OFFICER
The year 1966 was the first complete year as a Borough Service.
Staffing still continued to be a problem, in particular the recruitment of
full-time dental officers. This difficulty is however a national one. We were
fortunate at the end of the year to appoint a very well qualified part-time
orthodontist. There is no falling off in the number of children found to
require this form of treatment. Irregularities of the dentition in the young
primary teeth, and thus the avoidance of extractions, can do a lot to
reduce the number of such cases.
The new Tenby Road Clinic in Edgware was completed and sessions
were started there in June. Attendances prove that the clinic is well sited
for the schools that are dealt with.
It is gratifying to note that we were able to inspect a greater number of
children in the schools than in the previous year. The percentage of the
total roll being 79% inspected compared with 75% in 1965.
Dental Health Education
A main event of the year was the launching of a pilot dental health
campaign, covering five thousand school-children, from7th-18th November.
It is hoped that this scheme will be extended to cover more of Harrow's
twenty-six thousand school-children in 1967. The programme covered fourteen
schools, and one Grammar School was included in addition to four
Secondary Modern and nine Junior and Infant departments. The Head
Teachers and staff were most co-operative.
It was decided to take the campaign to the schools rather than have a
central venue. Thanks are due to the Oral Hygiene Service and to Mr.
D. J. Anderton, Health Education Officer, for their great contribution
to the success of the campaign. The children were taken in groups varying
in composition from twenty five in the case of infants to two hundred in
the case of senior pupils.