Medical dates:

Medical character:

In 1928 the LCC, as part of a further wave of provision for delicate children, established a new open air school within a complex of athletic grounds on the edge of Wormwood Scrubs to the east of the Hammersmith Hospital, approached from Wood Lane.  (At the same time, the St Clement Danes Grammar School moved to new premises nearby in Du Cane Road.)

The Wood Lane Open Air School had four classroom pavilions, a dining/rest shed and a bathroom.  There were vegetable gardens and beehives, which the children tended - and a paddling pool.

The School had a Headmaster and four teachers; lessons were taken outdoors whenever possible, including nature study.  Other staff included a nurse, a cook and kitchen helpers.

The children were given three meals a day, and rested for one hour each afternoon - outdoors in the summer and in the dining/rest shed in winter.

The School presumably closed, like others, on the outbreak of WW2 in 1939.

Records suggest, however, that it resumed operation again after the war in 1945, at least up to 1957.

Present status (February 2013)

While the nearby grammar school moved away to Chorleywood in 1975, it was succeeded by the associated Burlington Danes C of E School, which in 2006 became the Burlington Danes Academy, run by ARK.  The new Academy building extends across the site of the Open Air School.