65 per cent of schools exceed safe air pollution levels

Results from the #LetSchoolsBreathe campaign has shown that 65% of UK schools exceed safe air pollution levels.

One year ago, Cleantech platform Airly started installing air pollution sensors in schools across the UK in April 2021 to help school children and parents understand more about air pollution levels. The sensors monitored air 24 hours a day in the immediate vicinity of the school.

The analysis, based on data from 36 schools based in nine UK cities over the last four months, shows that 35 out of 36 schools experience levels of PM2.5 pollution that exceed the safe norms set out by the World Health Organisation.

St Anselm's Primary School in London experienced the most polluted air, whereas Davidson's Mains School in Edinburgh experienced the least polluted air, with mean PM2.5 concentration below 5 ug/m3.

In the first quarter of 2022, the safe annual norm for Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) was exceeded at 21 (65%) of the schools.

Every school experienced exceedances of diurnal (daily) norms for NO2 and PM2.5. For 50% of schools, these diurnal norms were exceeded every other day.

The remaining schools experienced diurnal PM2.5 exceedances every third day.

“Pupils are exposed to high concentrations of NO2 and PM2.5 mainly during travel to school and in school playgrounds. Airly's outdoor monitors have been positioned in such a way as to be able to determine what kind of air students breathe when they are near the school building. Thanks to the data we have collected, we know the situation is far from perfect, but the first step towards pollution-free schools has been made. This step is to make air pollution a topic for discussion among school communities, having the necessary knowledge and understanding of the causes of pollution and its impact on health, we give hope to the young generation into a world with cleaner and healthy air,” commented Marcin Gnat, spokesman at Airly