Air pollution: Lambeth students build filters for their classrooms

The systems were created by pupils at Elmgreen School in Lambeth

Students at a school near one of London's most polluted roads have built air pollution filters for their classrooms.

Pupils from Elmgreen School in Lambeth, south London, created the devices using kits that cost about £200.

The school is located about 45m from the South Circular road, which has been found to have high levels of PM2.5.

Year 10 student Charlie said the students wanted to "make the classroom feel cleaner".

PM2.5 is a measure of air pollution associated with conditions including asthma, heart disease and lung cancer.

Students assembled the low cost-systems alongside campaign group Mums for Lungs and researchers from the University of Nottingham.

The system can be easily assembled without specialist training

Each kit, known as a Corsi-Rosenthal Box, uses smart technology to ensure the filtration system only operates when pollution levels are high.

It was designed during the Covid-19 pandemic, with the goal of reducing the levels of airborne viral particles in indoor settings.

Charlie, a Year 10 student at Elmgreen, said the kits had been created to "make the classroom feel cleaner and so you don't feel so groggy, it can also help with learning".

Louie, another student, added: "It can also highlight the issue of pollution in the classroom, make people more aware of it so they try harder to stop it.

"Pollution is more something you associate with outside so you don't really think of it as being an issue in the classroom."

The students will be using the system to measure the impact of pollution in eight of their classrooms over the coming months

Keziah Afriyie, a science teacher at Elmgreen School, said building the devices had "piqued the interest of children in the quality of air in their classrooms".

"They are intrigued to see what the air monitors will report about the place where they spend so much time learning," she added.

According to data published by City Hall in 2021, 98% of London schools are in areas where air quality is considered toxic, compared with 24% outside the capital.

Excessive levels of air pollution have been found to stunt lung growth and worsen chronic diseases.