Canon Barnett Primary School, London

Challenge:

Canon Barnett Primary School is passionate about addressing air pollution in and around their school. They are located next to Commercial Street in East London, a road that is known for its heavy traffic, and therefore they have a vested interest in ensuring that the air is clean for their students and staff to breathe.

The school had previously been involved in projects to address the air pollution that their students and staff were being exposed to. For example, in 2018, they were involved in the Breathe Clean project, a citizen science study that involved diffusion tubes being installed at their school so that the students could monitor PM2.5 levels, creating maps to show the data collected.

More recently, the school has been involved in CHILL (Children’s Health in London and Luton) study: a research study to find out how reducing air pollution from traffic is good for children’s health.

Now, the school wants to take further action on air pollution and use the power of the student voice to engage with key decision makers to address the issue of air pollution head on.

Action:

On 11^th June 2021, Year 6 students received an interactive online workshop from Global Action Plan on air pollution. They learned about different types of air pollution, as well as their sources and the impacts they have on our bodies. At the end of the session, they were challenged to create their own ‘Clean Air Vision’ for the future. They were given the freedom to use any medium to create the vision piece. As a group, they created a banner using paper and leaves to illustrate their vision.

Outcome:

On Clean Air Day, 17^th June 2021, students from Year 6 were invited to the Royal London Hospital where they were given the opportunity to present their vision piece to local politicians and press, as well as the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. The children expressed their concerns to the Mayor regarding air pollution at their school and shared their ideas of what actions could be taken to improve air quality in London. They also shared their views on ITV and BBC News, to make the general public more aware of protecting children's health from air pollution  It was an excellent opportunity for the students to exercise their reasoning skills and to use their voices to create change.

Getting started…

Use the Clean Air Vision resources, where students will use their voices, and their creativity, to share their knowledge of solutions to air pollution with key decision-makers.