Run a switch off campaign
Hallam Fields Primary School, Monday, 16 December 2024
30
Change-maker
KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5
What you did
Changed our school 7 day timer for hot water to shut off from end of the school day for the duration of the school holidays.
Activity description
Most schools use much of their energy when the school is actually closed to pupils! Can you believe that they'd want to be heating and powering an empty building when it costs so much and has such a huge environmental impact to do so?
What does this look like for your school? The red bars below are the holiday weeks - they should be much lower than the green/blue bars which are the school term weeks.
Can you see how much money it cost to power the school during the holidays?
In advance of the next holidays ask your Site Manager or Caretaker to sit down with you and create a list of everything that can be turned off for holidays.
Here are a few things to put on the list:
What does this look like for your school? The red bars below are the holiday weeks - they should be much lower than the green/blue bars which are the school term weeks.
Change units
Explore
We do not have enough data at the moment to display this chart
Can you see how much money it cost to power the school during the holidays?
In advance of the next holidays ask your Site Manager or Caretaker to sit down with you and create a list of everything that can be turned off for holidays.
Here are a few things to put on the list:
- Gas and electric room heating (it is amazing how many schools leave this running!). Don’t forget electric heaters in temporary classrooms and storage heaters.
- Hot water heating
- Hot drink boilers (there may be some in the staffroom or kitchen)
- Water chillers
- Photocopiers and printers
- Computers, ipad and laptop chargers, smart boards, and projectors
- Any IT servers which are not needed during the holidays
- Music technology equipment
- Design technology equipment
- Fridges and freezers can be emptied and turned off
- Extraction fans and fume cupboards
- Air purifiers introduced as Covid mitigation
Make sure that everyone knows about the switch off list.
Hold an assembly, speak to the teachers in a staff meet or make posters to go around the school, including:
- a turn it off poster for the teacher's workroom (don't forget those communal areas!)
- a sign for the staffroom, or a
- chart for the kitchen.
Why not have a look at some of the Energy Sparks checklists (above right) to help you make sure nothing is missed.
