London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
London County Council 1926
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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suitable groups in regard to ages and sex, which remain practically undisturbed
throughout the year. From the medical point of view, however, the plan has its
disadvantages, as children urgently requiring open air education may have to wait
several months before admission. This would be avoided if the children in open air
schools were reviewed from the point of view of fitness to leave each term instead of
annually as at present.
The head master of Bow Road open air school, which has been in existence for five years, has supplied the following tables showing the length of stay of children at this school in periods which are multiples of six months.
| Time in the school. | Number of children. | |
|---|---|---|
| (1) | ||
| Stayed 6 months or less | 32 | 8 |
| „ between 6 months and 12 months | 43 | 17 |
| ,, ,, 12 ,, 1½ years | 59 | 46 |
| ,, ,, 1½ years and 2 ,, | 26 | 20 |
| ,, ,, 2 ,, 2½ ,, | 24 | 15 |
| ,, ,, 2½ ,, 3 ,, | 17 | 9 |
| ,, ,, 3 ,, 3½ ,, | 20 | 12 |
| ,, ,, 3½ ,, 4,, | 6 | 6 |
| ,, ,, 4 ,, 4½ ,, | 2 | 2 |
Bow-road
open-air
school.
"The numbers in the first column include children who have left the school
from all causes. In the early years we had many children enter who were nearing
the school leaving age and that is the explanation of why we have had rather a large
number who left after only six or twelve months' stay.
"It is far more valuable, I think, to take the lengths of stay of those children
who entered the school delicate and weie passed out by the school medical officer
certified fit to leave."These are set out in the second column in the above table.
"Another valuable table, especially in its lower lines is that showing the lengths of time the children who are now in the school (and therefore not yet certified fit) have been in attendance. It will be seen that we have 27 children who have been in the school more than three years."
| Time in the school. | Number of children. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Admitted less than 6 months ago | 32 | ||||
| ;; | between 6 months and 12 months ago | 50 | (Accommdation increased 30 places 4/26 | ||
| ,, ,, 12 ,, | 1½ years ago | 24 | |||
| ,, ,, 1½ ,, | 2 | 28 | |||
| ,, ,, 2 ,, | 4 | ||||
| ,, ,, 2½ ,, | 3 | 23 | (Accommodation increased 30 places, 4/24) | ||
| ,, ,, 3 ,, | 3½ | 9 | |||
| 4 | 8 | ||||
| ,, ,, 4 ,, | 4½ | 5 | |||
| ,, ,, 4½ ,, | 5 | 5 | |||
| 188 | |||||
Aspen House
open-air
school.
Another question, which is anxiously put by authorities who wish to institute
an open air school for the first time, is " to what extent is it possible in England,
owing to weather conditions, for classes to be held outside the classroom? "The
Head Master of Bow Road has also supplied the answer to this question. He states
that, over a period of five years, lessons have been taken entirely outside on 1,008
days, inside the classrooms on 125 days, and partly out and partly in on 95 days.
Children rapidly become acclimatised to open air conditions, and fears expressed
in many quarters on this score prove in practice to be unfounded. Aspen House
school was opened on 23rd November, 1925, in extremely severe weather, and some
doubts were held as to the advisability of this. A careful selection of the children
was carried out, and Dr. Duncan, the school doctor, reports that although many