OPEN-AIR SCHOOLS.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19164, 22 November 1927, Page 12

OPEN-AIR SCHOOLS.

TO THE EDITOa OT THE PBESS. Sir—The Canterbury Education Board, at their meeting held last Friday, are reported as having decided against the Fendalton type of open-air school for Mt. Pleasant. The reason given is that the school site is a bleak one and exposed to the winds. Surely, if one searched throughout the province of Canterbury, one could hardly find a site more suitable for an openair school than the warm and sunny slopes of Mt. Pleasant. To place children in a closed building there would bo a tragic mistake. The Board prefers the Temuka type of school, which is the Fendalton type ruined by having the open northern side closed up with glass windows. The latter, though intended to be kept open, would usually be shut and the blinds pulled down, because the sun striking through the glass would become unbearably hot. This is the experience i n the new type of closed school erected by the Board, with a lavish provision of glass on the northern side. The residents of Mt. 'Pleasant have on two occasions, at public meetings, expressed their desire for the Fendalton type of school. Does the Board intend to disregard the wishes of the people who live on the spot and whose children are to attend the school? And are the members of the Board sincere when they state that their policy is to erect open-air schools in preference to closed schools wherever possible ? The Open-Air Schools' League and the

public generally, who have the welfare of the children at heart, would like these questions answered.—Yours, etc., J. S. DA WE, Hon. (Secretary, Open-air Schools' League. 30 Salisbury street, November 21st.