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necessity of children being acclimatised to open-air conditions, before undergoing the rigours of winter
it has not yet been filled to its full capacity. The school is in an admirable situation and the very large
garden attached to the house gives ample scope for the open-air operations required. Birley House
and Shooter's-hill Schools have been continued with the success which has always attended them in past
years.
The question came up for consideration during the year as to closure of day open-air schools for
the educational holidays. From the outset these schools remained open all the year round and the making
of a change whereby the staff and children should be given school holidays was much debated. In 1919
an experiment was carried out, whereby it appeared that in the case of the Birley House children no
serious results attended a holiday period in the summer, but at Shooter's-hill the children appeared to lose
ground.
In December, 1919, the Council decided that as an experiment, and during the educational year
1920-21, the Birley House Open-air School should be closed for a period of six weeks, four of which
should form a continuous period during the "summer. The headmaster prepared figures of weights
showing that in the summer holiday there was a slight increase, but in the winter holiday a slight
decrease.
The managing committee considered that the holidays, generally speaking, had little effect
either way on the health of the children and pointed out that a large number of the children went either
to the seaside or the country for a period. They thought the experiment increased the children's freshness
and zest in their school life. Further, it was considered advantageous that the school should be closed
from an administrative point of view.
From the medical point of view it is very doubtful whether the open-air schools should be closed
in the summer just at the time when the maximum benefit is being received by the children, and, at all
events, it would appear that if the schools are closed care should be taken in the case of each child that
some alternative measure is adopted which will obviate the break of continuity of treatment. At
Shooter's-hill it has been decided that the school shall remain open continuously, but at Stowey House
and Bow-road it is proposed that the ordinary elementary schools' holidays shall apply.
During the summer of 1920, 94 open-air classes were, with the approval of the Board of Education,
held in connection with elementary schools. The classes were of the same types as those described
in preceding years, and included 8 classes of type A, 22 of type B, 40 of type C, and 24 of type D.
As it has long been recognised that classes in parks and open spaces are much more beneficial to the
children than those held in playgrounds, it is satisfactory to find their numbers steadily increasing, 45
having been held last year, as compared with 37 in 1919 and 22 in 1914.
It has been clear from the beginning, and is becoming more and more so, that it is as a part
of the provision for ailing children that open-air classes justify their position in the Council's system.
Educationally, they have both advantages and disadvantages, and it is sometimes difficult to decide
which are the more weighty. The point upon which most of the inspectors lay stress is the increased
alertness and brightness of the children after working for a time in the open air, and their improvement
in general intelligence, especially in the case of those who had previously been dull or backward. This
no doubt, is chiefly the result of improved health; it is also due, in some measure, to the freer curriculum
which is possible, and which, in fact, is generally adopted in the case of open-air classes. Indeed, the
improvement in health itself probably arises not only from the actual fact of being out of doors instead
of indoors, but also from the facilities for physical exercises and games, and, in general, the greater
freedom of movement made possible by the fact that the class has more space at its disposal.
Special mention should be made of the girls' department of Kilburn-lane school (Paddington,
N.), where, for the past three years, practically the whole department has been enabled, through the
kindness of the Corporation of the City of London, to do the greater part of the work during the
summer months in Queen's-park.
Another piece of pioneer work has now been begun at Sirdar-road School (Kensington, N.). The
Education Committee decided to establish, on a piece of ground adjoining the school, two open-air classes
for delicate girls from schools in the neighbourhood. A shed has been erected for their shelter and
certain other work carried out on the site; special furniture has been provided, and the classes, which
are to continue throughout the year, began on the 27th October. At first some difficulties were experienced
in securing the attendance of the children who were selected, and also in finding suitable teachers;
these, however, have been overcome.
The general impression produced by a survey of the open-air classes is that attention should be
increasingly concentrated on those types of class which are specially established with a view to improving
the health of delicate children, namely, type A and type B.
As regards these two types, classes of type B, where the pupils are all taken from one school, should
be as advantageous from the point of view of health as those of type A. They are certainly easier to
arrange administratively, and have a far greater appeal for the majority of head teachers. It seems
desirable, therefore, that such classes should be encouraged and extended as much as possible, that
the children should be selected by the school medical officer (as is now done in the case of the type A
classes), and that, as a rule, preference should be given to classes of the B type, rather than to those
of the C and D types, in the matter of sites, equipment, "supply" teachers, and so on.
Detailed reports have been received from the school doctors in the case of 36 playground or
open-air classes held during 1920. The reports, without exception, state that special benefit was obtained
by the large majority of children attending the classes in the direction of improved health. Continuous
charts of improvement in height and weight were kept in most cases. The improvement noted in
Open-air
classes