[Report 1924] / School Medical Officer of Health, Todmorden Borough.

  • Todmorden (England). Borough Council.
Date:
1924
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1924] / School Medical Officer of Health, Todmorden Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    3.—SCHOOL HYGIENE. With regard to the general question of school hygiene iiiy remarks for the year 1923 still obtain. The possibility of providing means for drying children's clothes throughout the schools of the town should be entertained, and it would be wise to maintain a measure of uniformity with regard to the provision of separate accommodation for the hats of children suffering from ringworm. The very dull weather we have had this year has rather brought the question of lighting to the front. Educational efficiency is now a very different consideration from what it was when most of your schools were first built, and the standard of lighting which may then have been suitable might be quite unsuitable for the requirements of modern education. I propose dealing with this matter in detail during my inspections for the year 1925. In some of the schools it is imperative, owing to the number of scholars present, that ventilation during playtime should be looked upon not only as desirable but as absolutely essential. It is not always recognised that playtime loses a part of its value unless the occasion is used for completely changing the atmosphere of the class-rooms. 4.—MEDICAL INSPECTION. [a] [h) The age groups of the children inspected are shown in the statistical tables. (c) The early ascertainment of crippling defects is secured by the routine medical inspection, the other visits of the doctor to the schools, and the constant visitation of the schools by your nurses. It is not apprehended that any crippling defect amongst the children attending school is long unnoticed and even where such children do not attend school the constant visits of your nurses, who are also Health Visitors, to the homes, makes it but little likely that such a case could be unnoticed. [d) The measures adopted for restricting the interfer¬ ence with school life which medical inspection is bound to a certain extent to cause are those which have been used in previous years. Briefly they are as follows :—Bach in¬ spection is carried out with two nurses and one clerk present besides the doctor. The nurses are responsible for weighing, iiieasuring, testing the acuity of vision, and the acuity of hearing, examining the clothing, footgear, and general clean¬ liness of the children. They are further expected to make a