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90
There is on after care for the Deaf and Dumb, but there is a Voluntary
After Care Committee for the Mentally Defective: the members of this
Committee keep in touch with children who have left this Special School
and make reports at the monthly meeting. This Committee works in
co-operation with the Essex County Council's statutory one.
18, 19 and 20. There are no Nursery Schools, nor Continuation
Schools, whilst the County Council carries on the work of Medical
Inspection in the two Secondary Schools.
21. EMPLOYMENT OF CHILDREN OF
SCHOOL AGE.
This work is practically limited to milk rounds, newsvendors,
and the distribution of parcels, goods, etc., a few assisting in shops.
The opinion of the School Medical Officers with regard to the health
of these children, is that it is beneficial, also that it promotes cleanliness.
If the home conditions are favourable, then a little regular and routine
duty outside the school life benefits the boy. The exception to this is
sometimes met with and appears to be due to the boy not being under
favourable conditions at home as regards food, etc.
22 and 23. No special enquiries have been made by members of
the School Staff during the year, and no examination of scholarship
candidates, etc., have been made.
24. Appended are Dr. Corbett's Report and the six statistical tables
required by the Board regarding the Elementary Schools. Table I.,
letter "C," requires explanation. Here is asked the total number of
children seen by the School Doctors, no child being counted more than
once in one year. The figure given, 11,520, gives the number of new
cases, or new defects, though a child might come up to the Clinic on
different occasions for different defects. A child might be medically
examined and found all right, then develop Impetigo and come to the
School Clinic: later on he might fall in the playground and be sent to
the Clinic for observation. He is thus treated as three cases and this
explains the way in which the figure 11,520 is arrived at. In order to
be able to give the number of individual children seen during the year
it would be necessary to keep either a register or card index for over
7,000 children seen at School and about half the number seen at the
Clinic, a total of about 10,500: in addition, there would be the work of
verification with regard to the 11,520 new cases. This would mean the
work of three or four hours daily, and the expense entailed hardly
justifies the result.
Table VII shows very clearly the work carried out at the School
Clinic, and the succeeding Tables give the incidence of the Infectious
Fevers in the various schools and departments.