Circadian Environments

Places

Childcare & schools

Children are not small adults.

Early learning centres are where many young children spend most of their waking week, at an age when their brains, lungs and immune systems are still developing. The air, light, sound and materials around them matter more than they do for adults.

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Childcare & schools

Why children are different

Children's brains, lungs and immune systems are still developing, and exposures early in life can have effects that last into adulthood. Children are more sensitive than adults to many environmental chemicals, and relative to their body size they breathe more air, drink more water and eat more food 1. Young children also spend much of the day close to the floor and put their hands in their mouths, so what settles in dust matters 2.

Many children spend long days in care, several days a week. For them, the centre is one of the main environments of early childhood.

What the research shows

Air pollution and the developing brain. In a study of 2,715 primary school children in Barcelona, those attending schools with higher traffic-related air pollution, measured both in the playground and inside classrooms, showed smaller gains in working memory and attention over a year than children at less polluted schools 3.

Asthma. An Australian study estimated that about 12 per cent of the childhood asthma burden was associated with gas stoves and about 8 per cent with damp housing, and that venting cooktops outdoors would substantially reduce the gas-related share 4. Dampness and mould are associated with roughly 30 to 50 per cent increases in respiratory and asthma outcomes 5. Worldwide, most children live with air pollution above World Health Organization guideline levels 6.

Fresh air and learning. In 100 primary school classrooms, 87 had ventilation below recommended rates, and higher ventilation was associated with more students passing standardised maths and reading tests 7.

Noise. Children exposed to chronic aircraft noise at school had poorer reading comprehension and recognition memory 8. More broadly, environmental noise impairs cognitive performance in schoolchildren 9.

Lead. A pooled analysis of 1,333 children found intellectual deficits even at low blood lead levels, with the steepest decline at the lowest levels of exposure 10. In Australian homes, brass tap fittings have been identified as a source of lead in drinking water 11.

Daylight and outdoor play. In a randomised trial, adding 40 minutes of outdoor activity to each school day reduced the number of young children who developed short-sightedness over three years 12.

The adults in the room. Regular use of cleaning sprays has been linked with faster decline in lung function in adults who clean at home or at work 13. Healthier products protect educators as well as children.

What we assess in a centre

  • Air in playrooms and sleep rooms across a full day: carbon dioxide, fine particles, VOCs, formaldehyde, temperature and humidity, and nitrogen dioxide where there is gas heating or cooking.
  • Outdoor air at play spaces, entries and air intakes, especially near busy roads.
  • Sleep rooms at rest time: darkness, temperature, fresh air and noise.
  • Daylight and lighting in play and learning spaces, and shade and daylight in outdoor areas.
  • Noise and echo in playrooms, which are often hard-surfaced and loud.
  • Water from the taps and bottle fillers children use, including first-draw testing for lead.
  • Materials and products: flooring, furnishings, art supplies, cleaning and sanitising products.
  • Damp and mould, including hidden moisture in bathrooms, kitchens and storage areas.

How we work with centres

We assess during a normal day, so readings reflect real conditions, and schedule the parts that need empty rooms outside operating hours. You receive a report for owners and directors, with recommendations ranked by health benefit, cost and effort, and a short summary you can share with families.

Our findings can support your quality improvement planning under Quality Area 2 (Children's health and safety) and Quality Area 3 (Physical environment) of the National Quality Standard.

We then work with your maintenance team, builders and designers to make the changes, review plans for refurbishments and new centres before they are built, and measure again afterwards.

Book an assessment for your centre

Evidence at a glance

  • Well supported

    Damp, mould and unvented gas cooking are linked with childhood asthma. 4,5

  • Well supported

    Lead harms children's intellectual development, even at low levels. 10

  • Well supported

    More time outdoors reduces the onset of short-sightedness in young children. 12

  • Reasonable

    Better ventilation and lower traffic pollution in learning spaces support learning and cognitive development. Consistent findings from observational studies. 7,3

General information only, not medical advice. How we grade evidence.

References

  1. Landrigan PJ, Goldman LR. Children's vulnerability to toxic chemicals: a challenge and opportunity to strengthen health and environmental policy. Health Aff (Millwood). 2011;30(5):842-50. doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2011.0151 · PubMed 21543423
  2. Mitro SD, Dodson RE, Singla V, et al. Consumer product chemicals in indoor dust: a quantitative meta-analysis of U.S. studies. Environ Sci Technol. 2016;50(19):10661-10672. doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6b02023 · PubMed 27623734
  3. Sunyer J, Esnaola M, Alvarez-Pedrerol M, et al. Association between traffic-related air pollution in schools and cognitive development in primary school children: a prospective cohort study. PLoS Med. 2015;12(3):e1001792. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001792 · PubMed 25734425
  4. Knibbs LD, Woldeyohannes S, Marks GB, Cowie CT. Damp housing, gas stoves, and the burden of childhood asthma in Australia. Med J Aust. 2018;208(7):299-302. doi.org/10.5694/mja17.00469 · PubMed 29642816
  5. Fisk WJ, Lei-Gomez Q, Mendell MJ. Meta-analyses of the associations of respiratory health effects with dampness and mold in homes. Indoor Air. 2007;17(4):284-96. doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0668.2007.00475.x · PubMed 17661925
  6. World Health Organization. Air pollution and child health: prescribing clean air. Geneva: WHO; 2018. www.who.int/publications/i/item/air-pollution-and-child-health
  7. Haverinen-Shaughnessy U, Moschandreas DJ, Shaughnessy RJ. Association between substandard classroom ventilation rates and students' academic achievement. Indoor Air. 2011;21(2):121-31. doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0668.2010.00686.x · PubMed 21029182
  8. Stansfeld SA, Berglund B, Clark C, et al. Aircraft and road traffic noise and children's cognition and health: a cross-national study. Lancet. 2005;365(9475):1942-9. doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(05)66660-3 · PubMed 15936421
  9. Basner M, Babisch W, Davis A, et al. Auditory and non-auditory effects of noise on health. Lancet. 2014;383(9925):1325-1332. doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(13)61613-X · PubMed 24183105
  10. Lanphear BP, Hornung R, Khoury J, et al. Low-level environmental lead exposure and children's intellectual function: an international pooled analysis. Environ Health Perspect. 2005;113(7):894-9. doi.org/10.1289/ehp.7688 · PubMed 16002379
  11. Harvey PJ, Handley HK, Taylor MP. Widespread copper and lead contamination of household drinking water, New South Wales, Australia. Environ Res. 2016;151:275-285. doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2016.07.041 · PubMed 27512893
  12. He M, Xiang F, Zeng Y, et al. Effect of time spent outdoors at school on the development of myopia among children in China: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA. 2015;314(11):1142-8. doi.org/10.1001/jama.2015.10803 · PubMed 26372583
  13. Svanes Ø, Bertelsen RJ, Lygre SHL, et al. Cleaning at home and at work in relation to lung function decline and airway obstruction. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2018;197(9):1157-1163. doi.org/10.1164/rccm.201706-1311OC · PubMed 29451393