Teachers Can Not Now Visit Homes

Chronicle (Levin), 19 February 1948, Page 3

Teachers Can Not Now Visit Homes

The headmaster of the Shannon school, Mf..F. Q. Burtt, advises that he has reeeived advice from the Education Board that. .the District Medical Officer. has withdrawn the authority whereby a teacher may visit the individual homes of pupils. As children are also not permitted to visit the school, other than ! for dental ■ treatment, the elosest personal contact the teach,'ers will have With their pupils will be through eorrespondence and through the parents. Sonie parents are finding it difijcult to reconcile the f act that although the children are not allowed to visit. the school, they are required to atteiid the dental clinic. The position is that the Department of Health has sanetioned- the dental clinics working on an appointment basis. It is not generally known that dental nurses nre expected to complet'e a minimum number of fillings in a specified time, and consequently, when •an appointment is broken in the present emergency when it is not possible to bring .another patient over from the school to occupy the nurse's time, some of the patients who attend the clinic may be kept a little longer than their appointment cards indicate because the nurse has unexpectedly found that she has: more time available for them. It therefore follows that a child attending at the appointed time, may find that he has to wait until the patient preceding him has ■been p,ttended to. This situation is peculiar to the preseent emergency, • and when normal conditions return it will be possible to adhere more strictly to the times indicated on the appointment card. ■ In the meantime it will assist the dental nurse if the children keep their appointments.