Improving air quality for nursery students and providing confidence to parents and school staff

Shimizugaoka Kindergarten is a nursery school in Yokohama, Japan managed and operated by Arcott  Academy.

With the pandemic in full swing, the government declared a state of emergency and schools were ordered to close. This prompted the deputy headmaster of Shimizugaoka Kindergarten Yuta Suzuki and school principal Takashi Suzuki to lead the efforts within the school to thoroughly implement measures to mitigate the risk of coronavirus transmission and one of them was to ensure proper and sufficient ventilation within the school.  Their goals were to ensure the safety of the students and to provide confidence and peace of mind to the parents by sharing information about the air quality within the school.

Challenges:

One of the first things they did when they started implementing their program was to look for an air quality sensor that would help them detect carbon dioxide and visualize ventilation in the school spaces which they can share with the parents. They also needed a device that can be connected to an external system. They knew there was a number of air quality monitoring devices in the market but they were looking for a solution that would help them address these concerns and more:

• Provide accurate and reliable evaluation of ventilation in different areas in the school
• Provide alert notifications when thresholds are exceeded so that immediate action can be taken
• Export air quality data that can be shared with the parents and integrate with the school building systems for easier and simpler management of air quality
• Provide confidence and peace of mind not just to the parents but also the school staff

Benefits Achieved:

After careful selection and evaluation, Shimizugaoka Kindergarten decided to use uHoo and linked it to their system so they can share air quality data on their website. Here are the benefits they achieved after introducing uHoo in the school:

Ensure optimal ventilation levels and improved air quality with real-time monitoring 

With the data and insights that they were able to collect from their uHoo device, they were able to understand and manage air quality in the school spaces:

• Set carbon dioxide levels to safe and healthy levels of 900 ppm (school environmental health standards is 1500 ppm or less).
• Receive alert notification when the threshold is exceeded so  they can adjust ventilation in the room

Provide peace of mind to parents and school staff by sharing air quality data that showed the school is a healthy and safe place

They wanted to provide parents with a visualization of carbon dioxide concentrations and other air quality factors. By linking the data to their system, they were able to export air quality data and published on their website as the “Shimizugaoka Kindergarten Ventilation Monitor” which the parents can check and freely access.

As a result, the school received positive feedback that their coronavirus countermeasures are more thorough and safer than any other place. The school staff also appreciated the ventilation measures put in place and worked with peace of mind knowing that they are protected against the risk of exposure to the coronavirus.

Simpler and easier management of air quality with integration to their systems

Because they can monitor changes in real-time and regulate temperature and ventilation according to occupancy and activity levels, they were able to remove the guesswork even with the changes in the seasons.

Bottomline Results:

Proper ventilation of rooms is very important as a countermeasure against the new coronavirus and this is an important consideration for Shimizugaoka Kindergarten officials. They understand that it is a great relief for parents with young children to know what kind of air environment the children in kindergartens and nursery schools are in. With uHoo they are able to confidently provide a safe and healthy environment to their students and their staff.