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Diphtheria.—All contacts under 14 years of age are seen by me and
with the mother, have the throat, and if thought necessary, the nose swabbed.
Scholars are thus returned to school after an absence of four or five sessions.
Measles.—These cases are visited by the nurses only when we receive
early notice of the condition and know that no doctor is in attendance. To call
at a house when the child has been away from school for seven days is to waste
time; the diagnosis often cannot be confirmed and it is too late to suggest
preventive measures. Visits paid to the homes for this and other infectious
complaints were:—
Measles ... ... ... ... 314
Whooping cough ... ... ... 134
Chicken pox ... ... ... 164
Mumps ... ... ... ... 1
No schools or departments have been closed during the year. It is
interesting to note that it will not be so easy in future to shut departments for
infectious complaints and gain a 90% attendance grant.
Individual exclusions have been made under Article 53 (b) of the Code.
School Hygiene.—As a result of an enquiry made by one of the
Committee, the following report on the ventilation of the schools was made in
May:—
" All the schools are provided with accessory means of ventilation
consisting of ceiling ventilators, Tobin's tubes, hoppers to the windows, etc.
All these extra means of ventilation are utilised, and speaking generally, the
Head Teachers report that they are able to ventilate the rooms without unduly
lowering the temperature or creating undue draughts.
Exceptions are provided by Raynham Road Schools (all departments),
where some of the rooms with a North aspect are difficult to warm in cold
weather and hence cannot be ventilated properly; also in Brettenham Road
Schools where similar conditions obtain. I reported the difficulty in warming
some of the rooms in these two schools in my Annual Report for 1921.
Houndsfield Road Schools are exposed to certain winds, and it is
sometimes difficult there to maintain a proper warmth and due ventilation. A
similar remark applies to exposed rooms in the Silver Street and Montague
Road Schools.