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35
many children return to school after the holidays with unclean
heads.
Owing to this, the School Nurse visits all schools
within the first fortnight of each term, for the purpose of
carrying out Cleanliness Surveys.
The following procedure is adopted :—
On discovery that a child has an unclean head, the
School Nurse issues a notice to the parent calling attention
to the fact, and giving instructions as to the means ot
cleansing the head.
She re-inspects the child a fortnight later, and if still
unclean, she issues a second notice urging the parent to
cleanse the head, and pointing out that unless the condition
is remedied, the child will be excluded from school, when
the parent becomes liable to prosecution for not sending the
child to school in a fit state.
She again re-inspects after another fortnight, ahd if still
unclean, the child is brought before the School Medical
Officer, who excludes her from school if he thinks necessary.
This action usually causes the parent to act and clean
the child's head within a week.
If the child still remains in an unclean state, the parent
is warned by the School Attendance Officer to appear before
the School Attendance Sub-Committee, who either obtain a
promise from the parent to properly cleanse the child's head,
or decide to prosecute in obstinate cases.
Therefore, at least three to four months elapse before
the comparatively few parents appear before the Justices,
and then only after all the preceding measures have failed
to secure adequate cleansing.
Legal proceedings taken under the School Attendance
Bye-Laws :—
Prosecutions were made in the cases of 23 children,
resulting in fines varying from 2/6 to 15/-.
In one case a parent was fined four times, in another
three times, and in two cases parents were fined twice during
the year.
(b) Tonsils and. Adenoids.
There were 42 children suffering from enlarged tonsils
and adenoids referred for treatment during the year, as
compared with 19 in 1922, and 75 in 1921.