Fresh air, good ventilation and exposure to outdoors were paramount in combating the spread of tuberculosis (TB) in the 19th and early 20th centuries, so much so that by 1937 there were 93 open-air schools across Britain.
The spartan, formal, often freezing outdoor ‘classrooms’ aimed to improve children’s health but were a far cry from the high-quality outdoor provision of today. Yet the health benefits of fresh air, sunlight, good diet and hygiene and physical activity are unequivocal.
Early years consultant Kathryn Solly says, ‘They realised that there was something outside that was more powerful than medicine: the sun and fresh air, which are also critical to Covid-19. Although children have been the least affected by the virus, the evidence remains that the wind and the breeze and the ultraviolet rays of the sun make outside the best possible place for children and adults to be.’
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