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when the children for one reason or another are not being adequately
cared for at home; illness of either parent, particularly mental illness.
Physically handicapped children who are able to fit into a day nursery
setting and who will benefit particularly from the stimulating atmosphere,
such as, deaf children, are admitted without charge.
Several vacancies have been filled by children attending part-time
on different days and this has helped a large number of families. Increasingly
arrangements have been made for mothers to come to the day
nurseries and observe the care of young children in the hope that they
could assimilate some of this knowledge and put it to good use in their
own homes. Provision has been made in the Capital programme to build
a new day nursery in 1973/74 and in 1974/75.
During the year, the toy allowance was raised from 18/- to £l.50p
per head which has enabled the nurseries to obtain some larger pieces of
equipment. During the year, sunblinds were fitted at Walton Avenue and
have proved to be of enormous benefit, protecting the prams from light
rain and providing shade in the hot weather, so that meals outside have
been possible. Other minor works carried out at Walton Avenue were the
provision of an extra water closet, the fitting of a new long mirror in the
children's bathroom and improvements to the sluice.
At Headstone Drive the Milk Room was fitted with a new sink and
worktop, the kitchen, laundry and milk room were redecorated and two
sandpits built for the children in the garden. At this nursery, the children
enjoy growing their own tomatoes, beetroot and lettuce.
At Walton Avenue, two students passed their N.N.E.B.: a mature
student who attended Waltham Forest Technical College and a collegebased
student attending Kilburn Polytechnic. 3 students also completed
their first year at Kilburn Polytechnic. At Headstone Drive, one student
passed her N.N.E.B., a second final year student resigned during the year,
and 4 students attending Chiswick Polytechnic completed their first year
of training.
Private Day Nurseries and Registered Child Minders
Private day nurseries and child minders are registered under the
Nursery and Child-Minders Regulations Act 1948 as amended by Section
60 of the Health Services and Public Health Act 1968. The numbers
registered at the end of the year were:
Child minders .. 187
Day nurseries .. .. 65
During the year, four new premises were registered for play groups
and seven child minders, who wished to run play groups in their own
homes, were also registered. These replaced 11 other play groups that for