South Farnborough Infant SchoolSowing The Seeds Of Success

What have we done on monitoring?

•Energy monitoring every day with Green Gang, entered record on spreadsheet in hall and shared with school in assembly. Definite reduction in usage (was over 300kw per day! Now between 100 –150 per day) and awareness around school very high among everyone.

•Trialled Energy Monitor, Caretaker wrote down baseline usage –i.e. morning & evening reading. Green Gang look at data at different times in the day i.e. Playtimes am/pm very easy for children to use independently and take daily/weekly readings.

•Children wear their Power Rangers badges at playtimes to switch things off which have been left on! Staff and other children are all aware of this procedure.

Curriculum

• Now showing sustainability learning experiences in planning hi –lighted in another colour in Year 1 (trial) so it is easy to spot – definite raised awareness with staff and more learning with eco objectives at the centre

•Visit to Oak Tree House in Knaphill with children to learn about low carbon living (see movie & Y1 planning)

•http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CijL_psRUo

•http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv0NF4CJerE

In House

• Considerable school budget put aside for energy efficiency (windows/lights/radiators etc)

• Energy survey underlined these issues for us with useful contacts and targets to follow

Wish list

• We have BIG plans for the future with a Sustainable Energy in the Community of North Camp project – high probability of being funded by TAG (Farnborough Aviation)

• This project will involve renewables- Solar PVs and Monitoring Software, community engagement workshops and sculpture & Centenary celebrations . We hope to benefit a wide range of people forging links between our school and local community.

Engaging Community

• Regular half-termly eco newsletters outlining mini projects and up and coming news plus eco tips and our website is continually updated for parents

• Merrist Wood College project with Year 2s developing our new Wildlife garden in the International Year of Biodiversity

• Regular gardening sessions with parents and siblings and moth & bat awareness evenings, Summer Grow-your-own Market Fundraiser

• WWF Earth Hour – we wore something bright and turned off everything for the afternoon!

• 10 Workshops planned in partnership with RBC & EST

• Roots & Shoots Intergenerational Gardening club planned for September funded by National Lottery (Awards for All)

Any Negatives?

• Monitoring manually is very challenging, due to difficulty of the meter location with our young children and that famous “Lone Ranger” scenario, when I am not in there are gaps in the readings. Also difficulty working out Mondays usage taking into account the weekend not being recorded. Using the energy monitor has been heaps easier but doesn’t match the meter reading manually - always less usage!

• Doing the application has taken me almost 4 months to complete and that has meant less time with the Green Gang children

Next steps...

• Proceed with Community Energy Project to the extent which funding allows

• Research In-House energy saving jobs• Continue with momentum of meter readings in

assembly on Friday and Power rangers at playtimes

• Review weekly energy usage targets in Autumn term

• Research Energy Awareness/Eco Class Assemblies bi weekly