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4
To the Chairman and Members of the
Walthamstow Committee for Education.
Madam Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
During the year the work of the School Health Service continued
to extend but there were no major innovations in 1962.
One event of importance was the introduction of Regulations
(under the Professions Supplementary to Medicine Act of 1960) for
the State Registration of medical auxiliaries. The importance of
the part played by these auxiliaries in the School Health Service
is not everywhere realised and I felt that the time was appropriate
to include in this report some details of the good work they are
doing for the schoolchildren of Walthamstow. We had not been able
to appoint a dental auxiliary but hoped that, as more of these
officers were trained it would be possible for one to be allocated
to our Dental Clinic to relieve to some extent the chronic and
continuing shortage of dental surgeons. Dental auxiliaries must
work under the supervision of a fully qualified dental surgeon
when they are permitted to extract deciduous teeth and to perform
simple fillings, scalings, polishing, topical application of
medicaments, and to give advice on oral hygiene.
We also received during the year from Dr. Stewart the
statistically analysed results of the Survey carried out on the
physical development (height and weight) of schoolchildren, for
which Walthamstow was one of the sampling areas (a table has been
included in the statistical portion of this report). It has been
known for several years that, at all ages, the children of today
are both taller and heavier than were their predecessors of even
a decade ago and this survey was undertaken to provide accurate
and up to date figures to assist the County Architect in making
appropriate allowance in the design of schools, size of desks
etc. Besides providing an accurate measure of the average heights
and weights at ages from 5½ to 12½ years the results also indicate
the proportion of children at each age who are larger or smaller
than average. On the whole comparison of the Walthamstow results
with those for the L C.C. area in 1959 show slight advantages in
height and weight to the Walthamstow children of a similar size
to those found in some of the better L.C.C. divisions' and this
suggests that, as we hope, the physical environment of Walthamstow
is equally above average.
With the approval of the Committee for Education a start was
made on extending the school immunisation programme, previously
confined to diphtheria and B.C.G., to include active immunisation
against Tetanus. Essex is one of the areas where the germ
Claustridium tetani is commonly found in the soil and, though
comparitively rare, tetanus (Lock Jaw) once contracted is often
fatal so that, as a precaution, children who sustain a 'dirty'
wound, even quite a minor one, have to be given Anti Tetanus serum.