OPEN-AIR SCHOOLS

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 38, 13 August 1935, Page 14

OPEN-AIR SCHOOLS

FOE..BETTER HEALTH

INCREASING DEMAND

Open-air schools as a means of raising the standard of national health, and incidentally of saving expenditure on hospitals, were strongly advocated by Mr. L. J. McDonald in an address to a meeting of the Wellington School Committees and Educational Federation last night.

Mr. McDonald pointed out that onethird of a child's waking hours was spent at school during a great part of the year, so that the living conditions of children at school formed an important factor in national physique and health. He indicated by means of a chart how infant morrality and risk of infection in' Birmingham were greater in congested areas,, and lesser as living conditions improved. Mortality figures were higher in industrial than in non-industrial areas, and living conditions were responsible for at least 50 per cent, of the disease and premature death incidence in England, and, he believed, in New Zealand. He quoted figures to show how better conditions of life for infants, owing largely to Plunket work, had greatly reduced the infant mortality figures in different classes of disease.

The benefits derived . from a fuller measure of fresh air and sunlight were a vital issue in the giving of good health; hence the necessity for school buildings designed to this end. It was important that schools should admit plenty of fresh air and sunlight and provide great facilities for activity by the children. There had been a definite improvement in the type of school building in these respects during the last twenty-five years because of a half-conscious recognition of the vital principles at stake. But we had not yet reached the end of the road of progress. The vital principle called for the maximum of sunshine and fresh air, consistent with other requirements. Nothing less than that should suffice, as the natural habitat of man wes the open air. There were classrooms in and about Wellington into which the sun seldom penetrated. Windows had a southern aspect,, and some of them were frosted for fear, he supposed, of letting in some light. He spoke of a Canterbury school in which the children assembled for work in Meg of frost, all of the windows facing south. That school was many years old. All •schools were not that bad, but there was much room for improvement. Until attention'was paid to conditions the children. were not getting what was due to them. New Zealand could do better, even in these times of stress. It would be cheaper to keep the children healthy in properly-built schools than to build hospitals for them. However good our modern schools were, they certainly did not admit the air and sunshine to the extent an openair school did. • • THE FIRST SCHOOL; .Mr. McDonald said he did not think the claims for the open-air ■ schools would be disputed by anyone with experience of them. The first open-air school was built in 1904. near Berlin to cure ailments due to living conditions the opposite to those of the open-air school. ' Sixty-eight children' with specific ; diseases attended the school, with so great a'success that the idea 'spread to England in 1907, atjfirst only for remedial purposes -and "later ' as a preventive agent. In 1919 forty new open-air: schools were built and' by 1930 80 per cent, of the plans submitted for schools were on .the openair principle. ' "A 'later development was the holding of classes in public reserves and recreation grounds. Not until 1924 was serious attention given to open-air schools in New Zealand the work being commenced at Fendalton after stout opposition from the authorities. The room was built by public-subscription, and it so demonstrated'its success that opposition was overcome and grants were made for more open-air schoolrooms. Mr. McDonald remarked on the slowness of the growth of the idea in New Zealand, which had nearly twice .as much sunshine as the overseas countries in which the open-air practice had achieved such success. In Canterbury there were now 23 open-air schools and 108 open-air classrooms housing some 3000 children, without complaints. . The Wellington Education Board had recently decided to consider open-air schools when new buildings were in project, said Mr. McDonald. The board was to be commended on taking .the initiative, and he thought it would get the whole-hearted support of teachers, school committees, and parents. The Christchurch newspapers were strong supporters of the open-air schools, and only recently a sub-leader in a paper there had strongly "urged the open-air idea. The Christchurch medical fraternity also warmly supported the movement. Mr. McDonald said he felt that they could hope for the same support from the Wellington Perss, doctors, and women's organisations. The open-air school could work side by side with the Plunket Society, to which it was the natural and logical sequel.