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SCHOOL HEALTH SERVICE
School Population. There was a small Increase In the school population during the
year. On 31st December, 1951, there were 28,178 children on the school rolls, as compared
with 27,369 on the corresponding day of 1950,
The total increase since 1945 is slightly less than 8,000.
Medical Inspection. A table setting out the work done under this heading will be
found in Appendix No. IV. on pages 82/83. Allowing for changes in classification the
volume of work carried out showed a small Increase over the previous year, largely due
to a more systematic method of re-Inspection of children under observation for various
defects.
These changes In classification were adopted following discussions with officers
of the Ministry of Education. Previously, for instance, all nursery school examinations
were classified as "entrant" examinations; now only the first examination of the child
is classified as an "entrant", other examinations in the same year being classified as
re-inspections. Similarly, all examinations of pupils for fitness for boxing, employment,
entertainment, school Journeys, school camps and the like, were classified as "other
periodic"; now they are classified as "specials". The nett pesult has been a substantial
decrease in the number of periodic medical inspections and a corresponding increase in the
number of special inspections and re-Inspections.
A comparison of the general condition of the children found at medical inspections
during the past three years is set out below. There does not appear to be any particular
trend for better or for worse over the three year period.