Whitworth Park Academy

Whitworth Park Academy’s OASES Energy Officer worked with the Estate Manager and Assistant Head Teacher to support them with retrofitting and to increase engagement with energy saving behaviours across the school. The Estates Manager plans to use the actions happening onsite at Whitworth as a blueprint for the rest of the schools in the ALP Multi-Academy Trust.

Initially, the OASES Energy Officer completed an audit of the current school buildings and heating system. As part with this the OASES Energy Officer met with the Estate Manager and Site Team to discuss current electricity and heating usage. The inability to heat different parts of the building to different levels at different times was discussed; heating in the older buildings was often too high / low due to the inappropriate placing of thermostats. The Estate Manager and Site Team also shared the school’s retrofitting plans to install 4 BMS and move the thermostats to more sensible locations. The OASES Energy Officer advised the school to investigate the cost of installing automatic / sensor lighting and LEDs for the next phase of their retrofitting journey.

Retrofitting Underway

The new Building Management System (BMS) was installed in 2023. Working with the Estates Manager and Site Team, Whitworth’s Energy Officer advised how they could lower their energy consumption with the new BMS and the site team experimented with heating different parts of the school to comfortable temperatures at the right times. The school is now using the updated BMS successfully, and since installing the system the school have made savings of 13% compared to 2024, as evidenced in the bar graph. This is equivalent to 141,631kWh, which is an excellent saving. As a way to enrich engagement with energy use for pupils, Whitworth’s Energy Officer completed a Year 7 energy workshop day. This consisted of five, one hour long sessions with the school’s Year 7 children. The sessions focused on sustainable energy sources and how these can be used. Students learned about the different ways we can generate electricity and the advantages and disadvantages of each. They also enjoyed experimenting with the OASES wind and solar energy kits and designing their on sustainable energy islands using different types of renewable energy.

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Whitworth Park Academy