ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the history of public health programmes in English schools from the mid-1870s, at which time public health efforts were still largely focused on disease control, through the first decades of the 20th century, when the role of public health became embroiled in the nationalist ‘child saving’ mission during the age of high imperialism. Along the way, this chapter will demonstrate how public health administrators came to view promoting public health in schools as an opportunity, an opportunity to provide what they perceived as essential public health interventions to promote children's healthy development, without appearing to intrude into the privacy of the child's home. As this chapter will highlight, this expansion in the scope of public health in schools began by ensuring that children were free from disease, but by the 20th century also sought to ensure that children were properly nourished, growing up healthy and in a physical condition to benefit from their education.
