School staff to recieve guidance on how to reduce air pollution

Two primary schools in Greater Manchester will receive air quality guidance to help the staff to learn how to reduce air pollution at their schools. 

Air quality amongst children is of increasing concern amongst many researchers as more and more research is revealing that younger children are more at risk to the health implications of air pollution.

The British Lung Foundation (BLF), walking charity Living Streets and the National Education Union (NEU) have produced a guidance programme to help school staff to learn more about the implications of poor air quality.

St Mary and St John’s Catholic School in Wigan will be the first schools to receive the guidance. 

The aim of the programme is to highlight the health issues caused from air pollution, to teach the staff how to identify and monitor the pollution, to encourage community engagement which can facilitate behavioural change and to provide advice on how the teachers can integrate air pollution into the curriculum. 

The programme also contains an anti-idling toolkit which is provided by Living Streets. The toolkit gives practical advice on how to reduce air pollution by tackling idling vehicles. 

Sarah MacFadyen, head of policy at the British Lung Foundation said: ‘No child should have to breathe dirty air, yet over 2,000 schools and nurseries throughout the UK are located in areas with illegal levels of air pollution.

‘We have created this programme, along with our partners, to empower schools to take the necessary steps to reduce the health risks to their pupils and to engage and motivate the local community into taking action that will improve air quality in the school.

Charlotte McHugh, project manager at Living Streets said: ‘In walking to school, families can be part of the solution to our air quality crisis. The more children walking to school the less air pollution there will e outside the school gates.

‘We want to encourage and enable families to choose healthier, cleaner ways to do the school run — starting by dispelling the misconception that children are protected from air pollution inside the car.’

In related news, in October 2019, the Philips Foundation and Global Action Plan (GAP), launched a programme to tackle air pollution in disadvantaged communities by providing 20 schools with air purifiers. 

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