A CASH injection of more than £279,000 from a new grant will help children better understand air quality and how they can reduce their exposure to air pollution and tackle it too.

Funding from the Air Quality Grant will see schools in areas that are experiencing high pollution levels benefit from new initiatives.

In addition to the activity within schools the funding will also see an updated air quality website for Essex, focusing initially on school pages.

This will provide them with air quality data and advice in an easy way to understand way.

A project called the Abbie Ayre and the Shed of Science will launch in selected schools later this year.

Live performances will highlight the causes and effects of poor air quality.

It will also offer pupils practical advice and information on how, by improving air quality, they can make a positive impact on both the environment and their health.

School pupils will also learn practical skills and monitor air pollution themselves as part of another initiative due to launch.

Teachers and pupils will be offered the opportunity to wear diffusion tubes and air quality sensors to measure pollution near schools and along key routes.

Monitoring will be undertaken by children or staff, using skills learned learning from the interactive Abbie Ayre session to check their own levels of air pollutants on journeys to and from school.

It is anticipated that the initiatives will launch later this year, for more information on the air quality grant and air quality in Essex visit bit.ly/3Ia7mKx and essexair.org.uk.