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14. FULL TIME COURSES OF HIGHER EDUCATION FOR
BLIND, DEAF, DEFECTIVE AND EPILEPTIC STUDENTS.
The Authority for the provision of such courses is the Essex
County Council.
15. NURSERY SCHOOL.
Miss F. D. Harris, the Head Teacher of the Nursery School
reports as follows:—
The year 1948 was an exceptional one in the Nursery School
from the point of view of infectious disease. During the whole year,
out of a school of 90 children we had only 10 cases of Whooping
Cough, 2 of Chicken Pox and one of Mumps.
The clamour for admission to the Nursery School continues to
increase and we are quite unable to satisfy the demand.
16. MISCELLANEOUS.
(i) Employment of Children.—82 children were examined
by the medical staff.
(ii) Employment of Children in Public Entertainments.—
No children were examined under these regulations.
(iii) Medical Examinations.—The following examinations
were made during 1948 by the Medical Staff: Teachers, 92; Others, 34.
(iv) Rheumatic Fever.—Dr. Wilfrid Sheldon, M.D., F.R.C.P.
who was specialist in charge of the Walthamstow Rheumatism Clinic
until October, 1946 has referred to the work of the clinic in an
address given to the Fifth International Congress on Pediatrics at
New York in 1947. The following extracts are taken from his
lecture:—
". . . . Fig. 2 shows the percentage annually of new cases
found in Walthamstow to have heart disease, almost entirely due to
rheumatism. From 1931 to 1935 roughly 40 per cent. of the new
cases were found to be thus affected, but from 1935 the percentage
steadily dropped, so that by 1939 the figure had halved itself, being
20.3. In the early years of the war, mass evacuation and bombing
considerably lowered the attendances, and in order to obtain attendance
figures comparable to the pre-war years it will be noticed that
the years 1940 and 1941, and 1942 and 1943, have been added
together. It is particularly noteworthy that in these years the
decline persisted, although the cases were drawn from children
whose parents had either refused to accept the offer of evacuation,
or had soon recalled their offspring from the rural areas"