Eight primary schools in the borough will temporarily close roads and plant trees near their school gates in an attempt to battle air pollution.
The schools are taking part in Islington Council’s School Street Scheme, with temporary closures to make roads become more pedestrian and cycle friendly. The roads will close at the beginning and end of each day.
Drayton Park Primary, one of the schools taking part, says that parents are fully backing the scheme.
“On the whole, parents have been extremely keen on the changes,” said deputy head Annabelle Kappor.
“They want the area to be less polluted and there were many complaints about people leaving their engines running outside the school.
“As we’re on a busy main road, we’re also constantly drawing parents’ and children’s’ attention to how they can get to school in a more sustainable way, for example by using smaller roads and walking,” she added.
Nearby schools are being active
As well as educating children and working with parents to help implement the scheme, other schools are taking action of their own to clean up the polluted air.
‘Greening the school’, cited by Islington Council as one of the ways in which schools can act to improve air quality, involves planting trees and other plants on premises.
Using a grant from the Mayor of London’s Greener City Fund, which supports school greening projects, Prior Weston and Ambler primary schools have both had over 40 metres of green ivy screens installed to protect the playground from air pollution.
The green screens, grown by Mobilane, help to clean the air and act as a natural barrier against particulate pollution.
Ambler has also introduced bike lock planters outside the front of the school to help mitigate pollution from traffic and had air pollution monitors fitted in the playground.
Jemima Vivien, founder of Mums For Lungs, a group advocating for action on air pollution across London, said: “We strongly support the measures schools are taking to reduce the exposure of children to air pollution. Considering the strong damage already being caused to children’s health, we need to work together to address this as a public health emergency.”
The other schools taking part in the School Streets Scheme are Ashmount, Duncombe, Rotherfield, Yerbury, Hugh Myddelton, and Winton Primary.
