[Report 1938] / Schools Medical Service, Bury St Edmunds.

  • Bury St. Edmunds (England). Schools Medical Service.
Date:
1938
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1938] / Schools Medical Service, Bury St Edmunds. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Borough of Bury St. Edmunds SCHOOL MEDICAL SERVICE Thirty-first Annual Report, 1938. STAFF. No changes have taken place during the year and co-operation between the School Medical Service and the Public Health Department has remained the same. INFANT AND CHILD WELFARE. 1938 saw the end of the ninth year of this Service. The change-over from the old premises at the School of Art to the new Municipal Offices, with its improved facilities for waiting mothers, has resulted in a large increase in the number of infants attending the Clinic. This has only been made possible by the voluntary help given by ladies who have assisted in the weighing of children and entering details on their cards. An attempt to secure a second Health Visitor resulted merely in the expenditure of a con- siderable sum on advertising. It is the children over two years and under School age who suffer mainly from this deficiency in the staff, and until there is either an increase in the number of candidates for subordinate posts in the Maternity and Child Welfare Service, or a modification of the qualifications required of them, it looks as if relatively small Local Authorities will be unable to deal effectively with the problem of the pre-school child. In 1938, 100 children, practically the same as the year before, were admitted to the Infant Schools at the age of four years. This is a relatively small number in view of the fact that there is plenty of spare room in most of the Infant Departments. Being under five years of age these children are not obliged to attend School, and yet are on the School Register, with the result that they are kept at home whenever climatic conditions or inconvenience to the parents renders this advisable, with the consequent lowering of the attendance average. Special Schools for these young children still remain the only solution of this problem. There are very few Boarded-out children and these are kept under regular supervision. Local con- ditions in this respect are entirely satisfactory. TABLE A. Name of School. C lass. School Accommoda- tion. Number on Register Dec. 22nd, 1938. Average attend- ance during the year 1938. 1.—Silver Jubilee Senior Bovs 400 354 292 2.—Silver Jubilee Senior Girls 400 290 253 3.—Guildhall Feoffment Junior Mixed 481 366 329.2 4.—St. Edmundsbury .... Junior Mixed 350 350 307.9 5.—Roman Catholic .... Mixed 207 113 98 (i.—St. Mary’s .... Infants 150 124 106.7 7.—Victoria Infants 247 150 148.8 8.—St. John’s .... Infants 294 114 104.4 9.—Eastgate Infants 119 51 50.4 Total 2648 1912 1690.4 1