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SCHOOL ROLL
16.2 23,170 children were on the school roll (I.L.E.A. and grant-aided schools only)
as compared with 22,349 in 1966. There were 69 schools, of which 3 were nursery schools
and 4 were special schools, and there was one special unit within a comprehensive
school. Two Roman Catholic primary schools were opened during 1967, one being new
and the other transferred from premises in the Westminster area.
STAFF
16.3 Apart from a slight increase in the amount of time devoted to school health work
by the medical and nursing staff there were no changes in the organisational pattern.
Agreement was reached in principle to the engagement of a social worker to follow up
the needs of children at Franklin Delano Roosevelt and John Keats special schools.
16.4 MEDICAL INSPECTIONS
Routine examinations 7,974
Special examinations 2,664
Re-inspections 4,028
Number of medical inspections per
1,000 pupils 743
The figures for medical inspections show little variation from those of 1966.
INFECTIOUS DISEASES
16.5.1.1 From the epidemiological point of view there were, fortunately, no major outbreaks.
One school-boy was in contact with a confirmed case of smallpox, but no action
was necessary within the schools as the incident took place during the half-term holiday;
the boy was excluded from school and there were no developments.
16.5.1.2 Between February and December, 1967, 16 cases of scalp ringworm were found
in one primary school. The infection was due to Trichophyton Soudenese, a fungus producing
minimal slow growing lesions which are difficult to detect until very obvious
clinical manifestation occurs, by which time various contacts may have been infected.
16.5.1.3 The outbreak was investigated by a team from St. John's Hospital for Diseases
of the Skin, who also carried out a control check on a school from which no cases had
been reported. The object of this latter investigation was to determine whether, in fact,
there were undetected sources of infection in the schools. One case was found.
CASEWORK
16.5.2 With the ready co-operation of school medical officers, general practitioners
and hospital consultants, it has been possible to build up a reasonable medical history in
the case of many children, under the personal supervision of the principal medical officer
(Schools). Where relevant, information on social factors was obtained through the health
department social workeas, the Divisional School Care Organiser or the Children's Officer.
SPECIAL SCHOOLS
16.5.3 At the end of the year some 500 school children, resident in Camden, were
receiving education in special schools, about one fifth of them in boarding schools.
Approximately 37 per cent, of them had been ascertained educationally subnormal and
25 per cent, maladjusted.
HANDICAPPED CHILDREN IN ORDINARY SCHOOLS
16.5.4 The compilation of the observation and handicap register drew attention to the
high number of children with some form of handicap attending ordinary schools. The
purpose of the register is to ensure that there is some method of spotting the needs of
children, with a degree of disability sufficient to prove a handicap in ordinary school,
early enough to enable them to be given the advantage of a generous special educational
provision which already exists, to ensure that any necessary medical treatment is being
obtained and to advise the teaching staff about any special care or restrictions on
activities.
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