Witton Gilbert Primary

Witton Gilbert discovered that they were using more electricity than in previous years and the school’s heating is on outside occupancy times. Therefore, the school wanted to inform students about climate change and change behaviours at school, to help reduce their electricity use. They also wanted to monitor their heating use and make changes to this.

To make the changes their Energy Officer worked with the Eco Warriors over a half-term period. They took part in several activities to understand how to make changes, both individually and on a whole school scale, to help reduce energy use and carbon emissions.

Supported by the ECO2 Officer the Eco Warriors calculated their own carbon footprints and made climate pledges to reduce their carbon footprint both in school and at home. This was shared with the school on the Eco Warriors noticeboard to inspire other students to reduce their own carbon footprints and give them ideas on the ways they can do this.

They then performed their own energy use audit of the school. Students evaluated the use of electricity and heating in classrooms to see if they could reduce their use. They found that the use of lights was a major problem within school. The Eco Warriors now monitor this regularly to see whether behaviours in school regarding energy use changes.

The Eco Warriors have also installed thermometers in every classroom so heating can be monitored and kept at around 18°C. This will allow adjustments to be made to reduce heating use within classrooms.