Following our return to school post COVID and with an initiative from a parent Mrs Patton, two year 13 students Niamh Patton and Patricia Trainor alongside the Technology & DesignDepartment have been conducting a research and investigation project looking at the benefits of improving the air in our classrooms. Using the design of the #Corsi Rosenthal Box which has been used widely in schools across America, the students have initially built the basic design and are trialling it in the Technology & Design and English departments. We have also collaborated with the SAMHE project (pronounced ‘Sammy’) stands for Schools’ Air quality Monitoring for Health and Education. It is a citizen science project that has been designed with and for UK schools. SAMHE aims to establish a network of air quality monitors in schools across the UK to help us better understand schools’ indoor air quality. This is important because poor air quality can have impacts on pupils’ health and concentration levels.

Patricia and Niamh are building on this research and hope to design and build a better product that can be used more readily in the school environment.

In the photograph the girls have co-built the current model and are teaching the ECO students of St. Michael’s primary the benefit of cleaner air.