[Report 1931] / School Medical Officer of Health, Cumberland County Council.
- Cumberland County Council
- Date:
- 1931
Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Credit: [Report 1931] / School Medical Officer of Health, Cumberland County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![X.—PHYSICAL TRAINING. The joint report by Miss Fraser and Mr. Gray, the Chief Organisers, will he found as an Appendix to this report. One branch of the school medical work—for this it essentially is—which has been subject to a good deal of criticism going so far as even to cail it a waste of money, is phj'Sical training. I am pleased to note from the re])ort of the Chief Organisers that this work in spite of great adversities is still developing. Amongst much that was interesting and instructive Sir George Newman in a lecture in 1930 said in talking about what is the the irreducible minimum which will lead to the desired results of school medical work; — That every child shall be educated in a well ventilated, sanitary schoolroom, or in some form of open-air school, and an essential part of its curricvdum should be instruction in hygiene, the art of living. That every child shall have daily organised physical exercise of appropriate character.” Hygiene and physical training then are considered as coming within the ‘‘ irreducible minimum,” and in 1928 the Board of Education published a ‘‘ Handbook of Suggestions on Health Education.” Not much use has been made of this handbook, because I am afraid the subjects dealt with have never received the consideration and support which their importance demands, and I fear never will until the subjects ai'e made comi)ulsory in every school—secondary as well as elementary— curriculum. On this subject I would recommend the reading of the section on ‘‘ The Teaching of Hygiene in Schools ” in Sir George Newman’s Annual Iteport on ” The Health of the School Child ” for the year 1929.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b29132411_0025.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
