The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Feeding of School Children, by M. E. (Mildred Emily) Bulkley

360. Thus at Brynconin, where 85 children are supplied daily with cocoa for a weekly charge of 1d., the week's expenditure on cocoa, sugar and milk amounts to 6s. 6d., and the children's payments to 6s. 10d. (Report of the School Medical Officer for Pembrokeshire for 1912, p. 14.) See also Reports of the School Medical Officer for Hampshire (1910), p. 25; for the Isle of Ely (1910), p. 18; for Gloucestershire (1910), p. 53; for East Suffolk (1910), p. 19; for West Sussex (1911), p. 10. Sometimes the cocoa is provided free through the generosity of the teachers. (See Report of Monmouthshire Education Committee on the Medical Inspection Department for 1910, p. 9.)

361. Report of the School Medical Officer for Hampshire for 1910, p. 25.

362. For sample menus, see Appendix I., p. 236.

363. For instance, the cost of the food for the dinners for twelve weeks amounted to £7 9s. 8d., and the children's payments to £7 9s. 5d. On cold snowy mornings hot cocoa is provided before morning school for all the children. The cost of this is, we gather, borne entirely by the headmaster and his wife.

364. Yorkshire Post, July 9, 1908.

365. "The Diet of Elementary School Children in Country Districts," by Dr. George Finch, in Rearing an Imperial Race, edited by C. E. Hecht, 1913, p. 109.

366. Report of the School Medical Officer for Hampshire, 1910, p. 24.

367. Report of the Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education for 1911, p. 284.

368. Ibid., pp. 283-4.

369. As we have seen, the Inter-Departmental Committee on Medical Inspection and Feeding in 1905 recommended that managers of country schools should arrange, during the winter at any rate, to provide either a hot dinner or soup or cocoa for children who lived too far away to go home at mid-day. (See ante, p. 38.)

370. "The Diet of Elementary School Children in Country Districts," by Dr. George Finch, in Rearing an Imperial Race, edited by C. E. Hecht, 1913, p. 109.

371. See post, pp. 237-8.

372. See ante, pp. 16-27.

373. Report of the Joint Committee on Underfed Children, for 1906-7, p. 2.

374. Fourth Annual Report of the Joint Committee on Underfed Children, 1904, pp. 1-2; Report of Inter-Departmental Committee on Medical Inspection and Feeding, 1905, Qs. 1649, 1650 (evidence of Mr. T. E. Harvey). Even in 1908 there were 74 schools at which feeding took place which had not a properly constituted committee. (London County Council, Report by Executive Officer (Education), Appendix A to agenda of Sub-Committee on Underfed Children, July 6, 1908.)

375. "There is supposed to be a committee in every school," said one headmaster, "but the committees never meet in the vast majority of cases, and if they do, they never undertake personal investigation." (Report of the Select Committee on the Education (Provision of Meals) Bills (England and Scotland), 1906, Q. 849, evidence of Mr. Marshall Jackman.) "There is [a Relief Committee] in accordance with the rules," declared another headmaster, but "the Committee acts really through the head teachers.... The Committee say that the teachers have their confidence, and they could not do any good by attempting themselves to help as a committee, and therefore they do not help." (Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Medical Inspection and Feeding, 1905, Q. 5149 (evidence of Mr. T. P. Shovelier.) See also Ibid., Qs. 4773 A, 4937-4939, 6233, 6265.

376. See, for instance, Report of Inter-Departmental Committee on Medical Inspection and Feeding, 1905, Qs. 185, 5154.

377. "The duty of making enquiries by the managers, or by outsiders working for them, into the home conditions of the children is, with some remarkable exceptions, seldom well done, and often not done at all. They are authorised to invite assistance from attendance officers, ... from Charity Organisation Society visitors, district visitors, country holiday fund visitors, and similar persons, but we have very seldom found that this class of person has been consulted." (Report of the Joint Committee on Underfed Children for 1906-7, p. 23.)

378. Ibid. for 1904-5, p. 5.

379. Ibid. for 1906-7, Appendix G., p. 23.

381. Fourth Annual Report of the Joint Committee on Underfed Children, 1904, p. 2. Evidence was given before the Inter-Departmental Committee on Medical Inspection and Feeding in 1905, which showed that difficulty was experienced in collecting sufficient funds. The London Schools Dinner Association found that people would contribute at Christmas time, but in the early spring, when the work was heaviest, the subscriptions ceased. (Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Medical Inspection and Feeding, 1905, Qs. 2074, 2081-2083.) See also evidence of Mr. Marshall Jackman before the Select Committee on the Education (Provision of Meals) Bills (England and Scotland), 1906, Qs. 780, 788-790.

382. Report of Inter-Departmental Committee on Physical Deterioration, 1904, Q. 477.

383. Minutes of the London County Council, April 11, 1905, p. 1381.

384. Ibid., July 11, 1905, p. 297.

385. Ibid., p. 298.

386. The experiment was later extended to fifteen schools.

387. Report of the Select Committee on the Education (Provision of Meals) Bills, 1906, Qs. 451, 500, evidence of Mr. A. J. Shepheard.

388. Ibid., Q. 327.

389. The tables were "nicely laid and with tablecloths, with all the ordinary appliances and requirements of a table put there, such as salt cellars, knives and forks, and everything of that kind. The tables were laid out with flowers ... I think I may quite certainly say that some of these children had never sat down to a meal of that description in their lives." (Ibid., Q. 331.)

390. Minutes of the London County Council, December 19, 1905, p. 2138. About eighty per cent. of the meals were paid for by the parents, the remaining twenty per cent. being paid for by friends or voluntary agencies. (Report of the Select Committee on the Education (Provision of Meals) Bills, 1906, Q. 326.)

391. When, in 1904, the London School Board was superseded by the London County Council, the Joint Committee on Underfed Children had been continued by the latter body, its constitution remaining practically unaltered. (London County Council, Report of Education Committee, 1908-9, Part II., p. 3.)

392. This Sub-Committee was known at first as the Sub-Committee on Underfed Children. In December, 1908, the name was altered to the Children's Care (Central) Sub-Committee. (Ibid., p. 4.)

393. See Minutes of the London County Council, November 24, 1908, p. 1120.

394. "State Feeding of School Children in London," by Sir Charles Elliott, in Nineteenth Century, May, 1909, p. 866.

395. London County Council, Report of the Education Committee for 1908-9, Part II., p. 4.

396. The local Relief Committees had been re-organised under the name of Children's Care Committees in July, 1907. (Ibid.)

397. The numbers greatly increased during the winter of 1907-8, and reached a maximum of 49,043 in March, 1908. (London County Council, Report on the Home Circumstances of Necessitous Children in twelve selected schools, 1908, p. 2.)

399. Ibid., pp. 7-8, 22.

400. Ibid., p. 24.

401. Ibid., p. 25.

402. Ibid., p. 25. See also the description of the methods employed at typical schools. (Ibid., pp. 19, 20.)

403. Ibid., p. 22.

404. Ibid., p. 27.

405. A few Care Committees were already carrying out these functions. See, for instance, the description of the methods adopted at one school (Ibid., p. 19, No. C.)

406. Minutes of the London County Council, April 6, 1909, pp. 855-6.

407. Minutes of the London County Council, April 6, 1909, pp. 856, 857; Handbook containing general information with reference to Children's Care, 1912, pp. 7-8, 88.

408. Report on the Home Circumstances of Necessitous Children in twelve selected schools, 1908, p. 3.

409. Thus at St. Giles'-in-the-Fields the expenditure on the provision of food is still met from voluntary funds. At Hampstead, in all the schools except one or two, the provision of food for necessitous children is paid for by the Hampstead Council of Social Welfare. The Care Committee refers to the Council of Social Welfare cases which are suitable for home relief, i.e., cases where the mother can be trusted to look after the children at home; in these cases adequate relief for the whole family is given by the Council. If the mother cannot be trusted or if she goes out to work all day, the children receive meals at the feeding centre, the Council paying for these meals.

410. These are necessitous children only. This number includes the necessitous children in the Defective Schools, except the Cripple Schools, where the meals are provided by the Cripple Children's Dinners Committee. (See post, pp. 155-6.)

411. Annual Report of London County Council for 1911, Vol. IV., p. 33. The figures for the earlier years are not reliable owing to the multiplicity of agencies providing food.

412. The teachers are asked to point out to the school doctor any children about to be inspected whose names are on the necessitous register. (London County Council, Handbook containing general information with reference to Children's Care, 1912, p. 18.)

413. For examples of Care Committees in provincial towns, see ante, pp. 65-66. In one or two Scottish towns also Care Committees have been formed (see post, pp. 240, 241, 244-5.)

414. In addition to the ordinary elementary schools, Care Committees have been formed also for the Special Schools for Defective Children, with the exception of the Physically Defective.

415. In a few cases the committees are composed entirely, or almost entirely, of working men.

416. In 1908 the Care Committees were very largely composed of teachers. Out of the total membership of 2,939, 1,278, or about three-sevenths, were teachers, 1,391 were school managers, and only 270 were voluntary workers. (London County Council, Agenda for Sub-Committee on Underfed Children, Appendix A, July 6, 1908.)

417. London County Council, list of members of Children's Care (School) Committees, 1912.

418. At the end of 1911, organisations for the supply of boots were in existence in 1,012 schools. These organisations were controlled by the Care Committees, managers, or head teachers. (Report of the London County Council for 1911, Vol. IV., p. 38.)

419. "Care Committee Work in Liverpool," by F. J. Marquis, in the School Child, September, 1913, p. 11.

420. "Care Committees," by A. S., in the School Child, March 1913, pp. 4-5.

421. See ante, pp. 139-140.

422. Enquiries from the employers may not be made by the Care Committee without the consent of the parent or guardian. Where the committee is doubtful of the accuracy of the parents' statements, the case can be referred to the Divisional Superintendent, who may make such enquiries.

423. London County Council, Handbook containing general information with reference to Children's Care, 1912, pp. 18-19.

424. Thus in three schools in South London, attended by children whose home circumstances were very similar, the majority of the parents being casual labourers, the percentages of children who were receiving free meals in March, 1913, were 1.8, 2.9 and 7.5. In another neighbouring school, where the children were very little poorer, nineteen per cent. were being fed.

425. The most extreme example of the "strict" type is the committee which deals with a group of schools in St. George's-in-the-East. It is held that, the provision of meals being merely a form of relief, the work should be as far as possible dissociated from the school; the parents do not make application to the teachers but to a central office.

426. "Having regard to the varying circumstances and conditions of families, it is considered undesirable to fix a minimum wage which would justify children being provided with school meals, and each case should therefore be considered upon its own merits." (London County Council, Handbook containing general information with reference to Children's Care, 1912, p. 22.)

427. That is, 3s. for an adult and 2s. 3d. for a child. (Poverty, by B. Seebohm Rowntree, 1901, p. 110.)

428. Handbook containing general information with reference to Children's Care, 1912, p. 20.

429. The County Council, a few months ago, drew attention to the lack of uniformity prevailing. "In a number of cases it has been found that the form has not been issued, with the result that Care Committees dealing with part of a family are unacquainted with the relief afforded by another Care Committee." (London County Council Gazette, March 3, 1913, p. 210.)

430. "School Care Committees," by Maude F. Davies, in Progress, July, 1910, p. 177.

431. At St. George's-in-the-East five committees have been amalgamated and then re-divided into two, one dealing with all the Jewish, one with all the Christian, children of the group. Overlapping is thus almost completely avoided.

432. London County Council Minutes, November 2, 1909, p. 841.

433. The charge includes the cost of preparation and service of the meals, and is calculated to the nearest farthing. (London County Council, Handbook containing general information with reference to Children's Care, 1912, pp. 27-28.)

434. In 1912-13 the number of individual children who paid the full cost of the meals was 2,521, that is, only one-fortieth of the number of "necessitous" children who were fed. The amount so received was £863.

435. In 1911-12 the expenditure on food materials amounted to £4,273 2s. 0d., and the payments for dinners to £4,206 15s. 9d. Out of a total of 523,266 dinners supplied, only 33,043, or 6·3 per cent., were given free. The average cost of the dinner, for food materials only, was 1·96d. (Report of Cripple Children's Dinners Committee for 1911-12, pp. 10, 11.)

436. London County Council, Agenda for Sub-Committee on Underfed Children, Appendix A., July 6, 1908.

437. London County Council, Report on the Home Circumstances of Necessitous Children in twelve selected schools, 1908, p. 25.

438. For menus, see Appendix I.

439. Minutes of London County Council, December 20, 1910, p. 1491.

440. Frequently the infants are placed with the older children at the ordinary tables, which are too high for them to reach up to with any comfort; it is sometimes impossible for them to eat without spilling their food. (See the description of a feeding centre, post, p. 167.)

441. London County Council, Handbook containing general information with reference to Children's Care, 1912, p. 31.

442. The payment is 7s. 6d. a week. (Ibid., p. 34.)

443. Ibid., pp. 29-30.

444. Ibid., pp. 32-33.

445. These centres were all visited in the spring, summer or autumn of 1913. We describe some typical examples in the Appendix to this chapter.

446. In 1911, as the result of an inspection of all the feeding centres by the school doctors, it was reported that "in one-fifth ... the conditions required material improvement, to make the giving of these meals an educational function, and to impress the hygiene of proper eating and cleanliness on the children." (Annual Report of the London County Council for 1911, Vol. III., p. 170.)

447. London County Council, Report on the Home Circumstances of Necessitous Children in twelve selected schools, 1908, p. 22.

448. Annual Report of London County Council for 1910, Chapter XLI., p. 7.

449. Minutes of the London County Council, February 15, 1910, p. 175.

450. Ibid., July 26-27, 1910, p. 319.

451. London County Council Gazette, May 29, 1911, p. 370.

452. School Child, February, 1912, p. 4.

453. Minutes of London County Council, November 5, 1912, p. 1093; London County Council Gazette, January 20, 1913, p. 65.

454. See ante, p. 141 n.

455. Most of the cases of overlapping are, of course, cases in which the Guardians are granting out-relief. There are also the cases where the Guardians are relieving a widow by maintaining some of her children in Poor Law schools, but the mother has not sufficient income adequately to maintain the remaining child or children.

456. Report of the Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education for 1910, p. 26.

458. Ibid., p. 26.

459. Hansard, April 10, 1913, Vol. 51, p. 1381; The Health and Physique of School Children, by Arthur Greenwood, 1913, p. 48.

460. Ibid., p. 50.

461. "The Medical Examination of School Children," by Dr. A. S. Arkle, a paper read at the North of England Education Conference, January, 1907 (reprinted in School Government Chronicle, Supplement, January 12, 1907, pp. 77, 89). As we have already said, the nutrition cannot be determined solely by weight. "In fact," as a School Medical Officer points out, "an ill-nourished child may be above the average weight, or, on the other hand, a healthy child may be much under the average and yet not be ill-nourished." (Report of the School Medical Officer for Leeds for 1910, p. 27.) But when dealing with large numbers of children, the average weight furnishes a reliable index of nutrition.

462. Report by Dr. Leslie Mackenzie and Captain A. Foster, on the Physical Condition of Children attending the Public Schools of the School Board of Glasgow, 1907, p. v.

463. Report of the School Medical Officer for East Ham for 1911, p. 56.

464. Ibid., p. 57.

465. The School Medical Officer for Cumberland found that whilst, at the age of 3 to 4, 28·4 per cent. of the boys and 38·7 per cent. of the girls were classified as good, "the percentages diminish gradually till at the age of 7 to 8 they are only 12·8 and 15·9, but from 20·4 and 29·7 at the age of 12 to 13 they gradually rise to 36·0 and 34·6 at the age of 14 to 15. Probably in most cases the condition of the teeth is responsible for this falling off in condition. In the early years of life, before the teeth begin to go bad, the nutrition is good, but gradually gets worse as time goes on and more teeth decay, but nutrition again improves after the eruption of the permanent teeth, which, of course, are in the majority of cases sound for some little time." (Report of the School Medical Officer for Cumberland for 1911, p. 20.)

466. "The cleanliness of the houses and especially of the bedrooms ... has an important bearing on nutrition." (Report of the School Medical Officer for Congleton for 1911, p. 4.) A School Medical Officer in London told us that if a child improved in the point of cleanliness there was a marked improvement also in nutrition.

467. Report of the Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education for 1910, pp. 29-30.

468. Ibid., for 1911, p. 30.

469. Report of the School Medical Officer for Bootle for 1912, p. 17.

470. Report of the School Medical Officer for Wolverhampton for 1911, p. 28.

471. Ibid., p. 32.

472. Report of the Chief Medical Officer of the Board of Education for 1911, p. 25.

473. Report of the School Medical Officer for Congleton for 1911, p. 4.

474. Report of the School Medical Officer for Hornsey for 1911, p. 14.

475. Report of the School Medical Officer for 1911, in Report of the Manchester Education Committee, 1910-11, p. 242.

476. Report of the School Medical Officer for Kidderminster for 1911, p. 2.

477. Report upon a Study of the Diet of the Labouring Classes in the City of Glasgow carried out during 1911-12, by Dorothy E. Lindsay, B.Sc., 1913, pp. 5-6.

478. Ibid., p. 27. The numbers in each group are so small that the average does not furnish a reliable index, but that the conclusion drawn from the figures is warranted is shown by the fact that of the 27 families in the first four groups (excluding one case where the circumstances are abnormal), 8 have a dietary yielding over 3,500 calories of energy and only 6 fall below the minimum of 3,000, while of the 22 families in the remaining groups (excluding two abnormal cases), only one has a dietary yielding over 3,500 calories, while no less than 16 fall below the minimum. (Ibid., pp. 12-23.) Here, of course, again we have the question of wrong feeding. In many cases the income could have been laid out to better advantage. "Where one family gets nearly their minimum adequate diet on an expenditure of 5·1 pence per man per diem ... others on an expenditure of nearly 9d. fail to secure it." (Ibid., p. 29.)