Programme involves the installation of air purifiers in inner city schools to clean toxic indoor air, combined with classroom activities on how communities can cut both indoor and outdoor air pollution

Live monitoring of air quality in schools alongside analysis of how cleaner air affects pupil health, educational attainment and improved knowledge and change behaviour around air quality

This unique collaboration of industry, charity, public sector and academia will clean the air children breathe in schools to a level that meets World Health Organisation standards

The results of first of its kind research will be published in Spring 2020, which will provide a blueprint for the programme to replicated across other regions in the UK

Greater Manchester schools are set to trial clean air monitoring systems across Greater Manchester Schools to determine how varying levels of air quality affects school children. The University of Manchester has partnered with The Philips Foundation and Global Action Plan (GAP) to launch the ‘Clean Air for Schools programme’.

The programme is the largest of its kind to be launched in the UK, with 20 participating schools and 6000 students to be included in the 10-month study. The programme aims to support schools to improve air quality as well as understand for the first time the impact of air pollution in schools by studying the varying levels of air quality in classrooms and how this affects school children.

Through tailor-made teaching resources for schools that support the national curriculum and the installation of air purifiers in classes, the Philips Foundation and GAP will work with The University of Manchester as part of a concurrent research project to monitor the changes in air quality from purification and education. This is whilst purifying the air of the classrooms to remove toxins, viruses and pollutants.

The programme will investigate changes in children’s health and academic performance. The findings of the research will inform a groundbreaking framework designed to help schools across the UK create clean air plans to reduce pollution and protect students.