Oxfordshire County Council

The proposal Walk and Thrive is a gamified initiative to make portable air quality monitors available to year 6 children to demonstrate, in a personalised setting, how to reduce exposure to air pollution, increase active transport and help children be safe and stay healthy whilst travelling to school.  Each year 6 class undertakes a collaborative challenge lasting 60 days, measuring the air pollution with the monitor, increasing their physical activity, and completing educational quizzes.

The pilot initiative will help to address some of the most pressing public health issues of the day – air pollution, obesity, inactivity and mental wellbeing – whilst also improving children’s educational attainment and helping to free up capacity on our increasingly congested roads.

By empowering children and their communities to improve their own health,there are significant financial and non-financial deliverables. The initial £112,500 investment will deliver a flexible online platform alongside approximately 45 wearable air quality monitors.  These are reusable assets for a wider scaleup which could include commercialisation of the platform or securing funding for further rollout from government and other sources.