Open-Air Schools
BY DR. R. B. PHILLIPPS. THE first International Congress on Open-Air Schools met in Paris in June, 1922, and the second congress in Brussels during the week following Easter, under the auspices of the International Committee of Open-Air Schools. It showed great evidence of the strides which have been made in recent years by the open-air schools' movement. The open-air school was a German idea, and the first open-air school was started in Germany as long ago as 1904. Nevertheless, to-day, Britain is probably the leader of the movement.
It was a Scotswoman, Miss Margaret McMillan, who, in collaboration with her sister, Rachel, conceived and brought into being that wonderful open-air nursery school in Deptford which has so completely revolu- tionized our ideas about schools for young children. Sir George Newman, in his official capacity as Chief Medical Officer to the Board of Education, has for many years advocated the establishment of open-air schools for delicate children ; and the success of these schools has induced him to urge that the same sort of care should be extended to the children in all schools. He is persistent that education should be identified with nurture—the equal development of the child in spirit, mind, and body. And, indeed, what shall it profit to gain the highest academic distinction if, in so doing, health be impaired, or character remain un- developed ?
All over the country Local Education Authorities are alive to the need for more open-air schools for delicate children ; and many of them, following the lead of Derbyshire, are building new elementary and secondary, schools on more or less open-air lines. In Nottingham, for instance, new schools are all of an open-air type, . and have at least one side which opens out with French windows, In addition, each new school has attached to, it one or two open-air classrooms, which can be closed on one side only This is merely one example of the strides which have been made in school architecture in recent` years. • Old ideas, old traditions, old prejudices still linger ; and the difficulty of getting out of the rut is very real. Architects are too prone to design unnecessarily elaborate school buildings. The simplest structures suffice for an. open-air school, and, both from an educational and a health point of view, are more to be desired than massive, and therefore costly, buildings. The financial burden of education, both public and private, is very heavy ; and if a way can be found to lessen the capital expenditure on school buildings the country will the more readily welcome the new era of open-air schools for all.
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