WORKMEN are here putting the finishing touches to the Open-Air School at Braithwaite, which was to take in its first delicate children in September 1929. The fact that it could accommodate 120 gives some idea of the problems it was designed to alleviate.
Medical examination of younger Keighley schoolchildren in 1919 had shown 10.6 per cent with disorders of the heart, and 28.5 per cent with disorders of the lungs, 43.6 per cent had enlarged tonsils, and 22.6 per cent suffered from defective nutrition. Vermin or nits on the head affected 20.6 per cent of school entrants, but 33.1 per cent of school leavers.
Open-Air School pupils were brought from Keighley by special buses and given three meals a day, including a breakfast of porridge and shredded wheat with hot milk. Their classrooms could be opened up to let in the sun. Each child had a collapsible bed for use during rest periods.
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