Primary school pupils across Dundee are becoming Air Quality Explorers through a new educational campaign delivered by Dundee City Council in collaboration with partners as part of the Urban ReLeaf Dundee initiative.
The Air Quality Monitoring Campaign marks the second phase of Urban ReLeaf Dundee, building on the community engagement and greenspace insights developed during the project’s first phase. This new chapter focuses on understanding the air we breathe, particularly around schools, where children are more vulnerable to the impacts of traffic-related pollution.
As part of the campaign, air quality sensors have been installed at Glebelands Primary School and North East Campus, supporting pupils from St Francis RC Primary School and Longhaugh Primary School. The sensors provide updated air quality readings every two minutes, allowing pupils, families and communities to see how pollution levels change throughout the school day.
Using the campaign’s “What Are We Breathing?” educational booklet alongside interactive classroom activities, pupils explore environmental monitoring, citizen science and real-world STEM learning. They discover how pollutants such as PM2.5, microscopic particles largely produced by vehicle emissions, can affect health and why reducing pollution around schools is important.
A key focus of the campaign is raising awareness of engine idling during school drop-off and pick-up times. Vehicles left running while stationary continue to release pollutants, often directly outside school entrances where children walk and gather.
By combining real-time monitoring with environmental education, the campaign encourages pupils and their families to consider cleaner travel choices, such as walking, wheeling and cycling, while reminding drivers to switch off their engines when waiting.
Dundee City Council’s Sustainable Transport Team highlighted the importance of reducing vehicle emissions around schools:
“Reducing engine idling around schools is a great way to improve air quality. By combining this with active travel [walking, wheeling and cycling] we can create healthier school environments, protect young people’s wellbeing, and support cleaner, greener communities.”
The data collected will help inform future approaches to reducing traffic-related emissions around schools, while publicly available air quality readings allow communities to better understand their local environment.
By combining environmental education, citizen science and real-time monitoring, Urban ReLeaf Dundee is empowering young people to understand the air they breathe and contribute to healthier, greener communities.