Breathe, Grow, Play - tackling toxic air

Aim

To address dangerously high levels of toxic air in and around a big south London state primary school with sustainable greening activities.

After nitrogen dioxide diffusion tubes have shown a dangerously high level of pollution (2x World Health Organisation recommended levels) around our large south London state primary school, our Clean Air Group and Green Spaces Group have joined forces to develop a holistic approach to improving the air quality at the school through new initiatives to create green spaces within the school grounds and deter car use. 

Creating green spaces within the school grounds 

Our school has very urban and concrete school playgrounds which need more trees and shrubs that will absorb toxic air pollution and create a greener environment for play. We also need to nurture a culture of nature and growing  amongst an urban school population whose lungs will be smaller than average.

Our plans include:

• Regeneration of the forest school and vegetable garden. This involves rebuilding rotten and overgrown vegetable beds and restoring the greenhouse. We want to tidy and renew the pond area to create a nature garden and restore biodiversity. The piece de resistance will be an outdoor classroom structure that can be used in all weathers with a roof that promotes biodiversity. Finally we will design a series of parent, children and teacher engagements including for example potato growing competitions, building bug hotels and planting days to get best engagement with the space. Here is a plan of how we would like to revitalise the area. 
• Access to green space for all year groups - tree planting and depaving revamp. Our goal is for all year groups to have open access to green spaces. To achieve this we need to depave small areas of concrete playground & plant trees & shrubs.  We need a concrete digger hire, the  purchase of trees, shrubs, soil and compost, and a new  outdoor tap. We will organise  a  ‘Great Dig Out’ to engage the school community where parents  and children can help to plant the trees, build new planters and paint oildrums. Here is an example of a barren, concrete area that we would like to depave & create a natural green space in it's place.  
• Install a ‘A Super Composter’ to recycle food waste. This would recycle food left -overs from the school kitchen for the outdoor areas, a cost effective way to enrich plant life and providing an understanding of the cycle of life and carbon sequestration in soil for the children.

Reducing car use & pollution outside the school 

• Creating a “No Parking” zone around the school. The "no parking" areas around the school are regularly used to drop off or pick up children or by local residents. This brings exhaust pollution right outside the playgrounds & creates danger for pedestrians. We want to purchase cones & signs to enforce the existing parking restrictions around the school to improve air quality & make the area safer.
• Expanding access to cycling. We want to help families try cycling instead of driving to get around. We will do this with a range of initiatives including providing bikes to vulnerable families, running second hand affordable bike markets and providing free trials of Cargo bike taxi’s to introduce people to how enjoyable travelling by bike is.

Most of this project will be delivered by parent volunteers (unless specific expertise required) who are desperate to have cleaner air and green natural space for the 650+ children at one of Lambeth's biggest primary schools.  Here are some of our wonderful volunteer families making a start and tidying up the forest school. 

This project successfully funded on 12th April 2022