Education

Poor air quality is the single biggest environmental risk to health. Sadly, it has a disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable in our society, including children.

That is why we are empowering our young people to take ownership of our clean air strategy through a wide-ranging educational programme delivered in partnership with the city’s schools.

At the heart of this is the Schools Air Quality Monitoring Programme, which aims to raise awareness amongst Birmingham schools of the causes of air pollution and the steps that can be taken to reduce emissions and exposure.

A monitor for every school in Birmingham

Phase 1 of the schools’ sensor project launched in January 2022, with sensors now fitted at 69 schools across Birmingham, along with a co-located sensor at the Ladywood air quality station. For each school, a sensor is deployed along with a static signage board with information that feeds into their lesson plans and educational resources.

We are now focused on the second phase of this programme, which seeks to offer an AQ sensor to every school in Birmingham, starting from November, creating a huge network of sensors.

The benefits of this project not only deliver positive outcomes for the schools themselves through a complementary set of education resources and lesson plans, but also provide valuable data and insight that benefits our work across the city.

About our monitors

• The monitor is approximately the size of a large walkie talkie and will be installed on the façade of the school

• The monitor will be accompanied by a display board with information on what the data means and how the school can help improve its air quality
• The data from the monitor will be freely available to enable greater awareness of air quality around your school in real-time
• Installation of a monitor in your school is key to building a fully developed air quality sensor network in Birmingham to support our promotion of clean air around schools
• Whilst the monitor and its installation will be free of charge, the monitor does need to be attached to a power source that is available all the time (to allow the data collected to be downloaded), and as such the school will need to cover the very small amount of electricity required to run it (approximately £1 per year)

How to apply

If you would like a monitor to be installed at your school, email SchoolsAQMonitors@birmingham.gov.uk. Tell us your name, school and job title and we will be in touch.