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Day Nurseries
There are four day nurseries in the Borough, providing a total of 170 places for children under
the age of 5 years.
The over-riding principle governing admission to a day nursery is that there shall be a health
or social consideration in each case, and the present scheme provides that:
(i) Children from 2-5 years of age will be accepted provided:
(a) their mothers are unsupported (for example: unmarried, widowed, divorced or separated)
and must necessarily go out to work to provide support for themselves and their children
and are anxious to keep their babies with them but cannot do so without some provision
for the babies' care during the day. For the purpose of this category widowers, divorced
or separated fathers (provided the child is legally in father's care) are to be regarded in
the same light as unsupported mothers;
(b) the home conditions are in themselves unsatisfactory from the health point of view.
(c) where mothers are incapable of undertaking the full care of their children so that the
the health of the children is likely to suffer.
(ii) Subject to the provisions contained in this scheme, children under 2 years of age will not be
admitted except in the circumstances mentioned in (a), (b) and (c) above.
(iii) Certain categories of handicapped children (viz, deaf, partially deaf, maladjusted and partially
sighted), under two years of age, and children over one year of age of deaf or dumb mothers
will be admitted and will be dealt with, as regards priority for admission, in the same way as
children falling within provision (i). In addition, certain categories of handicapped children
over 2 years of age being dealt with under Section 56 of the Education Act, 1944, and not
under Section 22 of the National Health Service Act, 1946, will also be considered, for the
purposes of determining admission, in the same way as children falling within provision (i).
(iv) The next priority is given to children where the mother is compelled to go to work as an
economic necessity, and provided that the mother is employed for at least 30 hours per week.
(v) Consideration is also given to cases where there are special circumstances not covered by the
foregoing.
Three of the nuseries are approved as training nurseries for the National Nursery Examination
Board's certificate. A two year course is run in conjunction with Chiswick Polytechnic where the
theoretical work and examinations are undertaken; under this scheme the students undergo practical
training at a Council Day Nursery on three days a week, and attend at the Polytechnic on the other
two days.
Clinics
There are ten purpose-built clinics in the borough and sessions are also held in various hired
premises. In addition, there is a mobile clinic, now 13 years old, which operates at certain points
convenient to the users.
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