The school’s electricity and gas bill for 2009-10 was £108,980 this is clearly a lot of money, and something that the school wants to reduce. If the school can reduce its energy bills it can save money, and also reduce its carbon emissions which are the cause of climate change, and the single biggest negative impact that it has on the environment.

Over the year we have created records of the school’s electricity and gas usage in order to monitor our consumption, and help us to reduce it. This information was used in assemblies to all year groups in May to introduce the ‘Save for Solar’ scheme. In the scheme the school is targeting a 10% reduction in its electricity and gas bills over the next year, with the money saved going towards solar panels which will then further reduce the amount of electricity we have to buy.

The first step towards reducing our energy bills is to reduce waste, and students and staff are encouraged to switch off anything not in use such as lights in classrooms and corridors, or computers and projectors. We hope that the whole school community can help to save money and enable us to get some solar panels so that we can benefit from the renewable energy that they produce.