Highgate pupils have been busy promoting the benefits of clean air this week through several initiatives to improve air quality around the school.
Our Pre-Prep and Junior School pupils have been helping our gardening team to plant over 4,000 bulbs in the school grounds. The mix of crocus, hyacinths and wild garlic will flower from February to late June and will not only look and smell beautiful but will help off-set carbon emissions from local traffic.
Meanwhile, Senior School pupils from the Environment Committee have renewed their call for clean air by leafleting drivers outside the Senior School. They have called for pupils and staff to commit to a more sustainable mode of transport and avoid coming to school by car wherever possible.
Members of the Committee have been distributing leaflets to drivers each morning and afternoon with information about air pollution and alternative travel options. For those pupils who arrive at the Chapel Quad entrance to school by bicycle or scooter this week, they have been greeted with appreciation and a celebratory pastry!
Pupils from the Environment Committee explain: “We recognise the importance of minimising our contribution to the climate crisis by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and minimising congestion. We want our school community and the local residents to be able to breathe clean air: air pollution in London is, after all, dangerously high, and regular exposure is particularly harmful to children, with thousands of Londoners dying every year as a direct result of poor air quality (Imperial College London, 2019).”
Pupils were joined in their efforts by Councillor Scott Emery (below), Chief whip for Haringey Liberal Democrats and spokesperson for the environment and transport, who came to see our campaigning in action.
The Environment Committee has also championed the ‘603 Watch Group’ campaign to improve the local 603 bus service, which travels from Muswell Hill to Swiss Cottage and back, and stops directly in front of Highgate Senior School. The school community has embraced the campaign, which calls for more rush hour services, to make sustainable travel a reality in the local area.
Sarah Mynott, Lead Teacher for the Environment, concluded: “Our pupils’ commitment to creating a safer, greener, and better world continues to inspire me and many other colleagues and pupils at Highgate. Our regular Clean Air Campaigning is one of the most popular initiatives amongst pupil activists because it is so direct and visible. Although it’s difficult to know, it does seem to those of us involved that the issue is improving as our messages slowly percolate through, but there is still a long way to go. We have been really buoyed up by the support of Cllr Scott Emery this year, who has come to see us in action before and after school this week and who has pledged his help us make our local community safer and cleaner.”
