In February 2019, the Model School, along with 29 other schools in Ireland, took part in a project to raise awareness about air pollution.
The aim of this project was to measure levels of Nitrogen Dioxide at locations around our schools. This is a pollutant from car exhaust emissions and a key component of traffic based air pollution. We placed three test tubes at three locations around our school grounds for four weeks. These were then sent to a certified laboratory for analysis. Our results were as expected, with higher levels of Nitrogen Dioxide detected along the main North Road. Our next step is to hopefully implement a number of actions to improve the air quality around our school – a No Idling and Park ‘n’ Stride campaign. A huge thanks to Sorcha Brophy from An Taisce, 1st & 2nd Class, and the Green Schools Committee for all their work throughout the project.