The study by Unicef UK and academics from Queen Mary University of London monitored a group of children over 24 hours to find out at what times they were most exposed to pollution during a typical school day.
The charity warned that these peak periods of exposure at school and on the school run are damaging the health of thousands of children across the UK, despite accounting for only 40 per cent of their time each day.
Six children in London carried a MicroAeth personal monitor, allowing researchers to monitor their exposure to black carbon, a pollutant in particulate matter, and identify peaks of exposure. Findings showed that exposure to air pollution was lowest when the children were at home.
The data was taken from a wider unpublished study by the the university.
The study also analysed data from the World Health Organisation and the Office of National Statistics to estimate the number of children growing up in areas with unsafe levels of particulate matter (PM2.5).
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