A WINNING design from a student is set to be used across Reading following a borough-wide competition aimed at raising awareness of air pollution.
Schools were invited to take part in the competition as part of the Clean Air Living Matters programme, which saw pupils submitting poster designs about air pollution, its effects, and how to prevent it.
A panel of judges selected the winning design, which was submitted by 10-year-old Brianna Bambrick of Manor Primary School, Southcote.
It shows Planet Earth bearing a sad face, surrounded by cars, planes, bonfires, petrol pumps, and fireworks.
It bears the message: “Help our world; if you want a healthy world, stop doing all this!”
Brianna has won a family day out, and her winning design will be used in poster campaigns in community spaces across town.
The poster competition was launched to encourage children to create artwork that helps raise awareness of the prolonged danger to health caused by breathing in indoor and outdoor air pollution and how everyone can help prevent it.
The council is also working with the University of Reading, engineering consultancy Stantec, and social enterprise Design Nature to deliver free air quality education sessions to primary and secondary schools in the borough after securing £327,000 in Government funding last year.
Reading schools are still able to sign up to be part of the CALM programme, which features sessions that can be designed to fit around a school’s curriculum, including through assemblies, workshops, and activity days.
It sees support from air quality experts in term-length projects, and schools taking part are supplied with equipment which can be used to monitor air quality in and around the school, as pupils are shown how to use the equipment and interpret the data.
Cllr John Ennis, Lead Councillor for Climate Strategy and Transport, said: “It is wonderful to see young children showing their creative flair to highlight such an important subject.
“Improving air quality across Reading is a top priority for the Council and we are addressing this in many ways, including encouraging the use of sustainable transport and making the whole borough a Smoke Control Area from 1 December.
“The Clean Air Living Matters programme has delivered the message of air quality in a fun and engaging way to hundreds of young people in the borough which then permeates to their families and the wider community.
“I am sure Brianna’s brilliant poster will help to spread that message to even more people across Reading.”
More information about the CALM program is available via: reading.gov.uk/climate-and-pollution
