Introduction
Pupils at Colley Lane Community Primary School, Halesowen are really enthusiastic about energy saving and play a key role in reducing energy use across the school. The pupils enthusiasm means energy saving has a high profile at the school.
What was involved
The Eco Schools activity involves establishing an Environmental Committee who take the lead in co-ordinating the schools environmental activities. The environmental activities include energy monitoring and the dissemination of key messages to pupils.
Energy monitoring
Energy monitoring has been a key element of the eco schools work since 2006, and have noticed a reduction in energy use. The meters are read weekly by a pupil and the caretaker. The pupils keep records of the weekly energy reading so we can see if our energy saving measures are working and if they need to be more vigilant. We display the energy ratings for the school on the eco board and in school office.
The children have designed colourful posters and these are placed all around the school to encourage pupils and teachers to turn off computers, lights and electronic white boards when they are not in use to help reduce the school energy bills.
Eco Council noticeboard
The Eco Council noticeboard is used to share energy saving messages to the pupils, staff, parents through displaying minutes and posters.
Eco Shop
The school “eco shop” sells an array of environmentally friendly products including water bottles, pencils, pens, rubbers, rulers and other stationery items. Through selling products at the school shop we use the small profit to restock and pay for our paper recycling.
Outcomes
Colley Lane Community Primary School were awarded their second Eco School Green Flag in 2010 by the Keep Britain Tidy Group to acknowledge their approach to energy saving. http://www.keepbritaintidy.org/ecoschools/school?id=4424 In the past, the school have won Junior Community Pride Award, also hold the Silver Green Tree Award and level 1 Sustainable schools.
