Kedington Primary School
We completed Goodbye Standby as part of Switch-Off Fortnight (we
also completed Switch On to Switching Off
during this period). There were several reasons why we chose this
activity, the main one being that we had several new members of
staff who had not been involved in our previous energy-saving
activities and our Eco Council wanted them to be part of this
challenge. In addition, many more children had joined the school
and we hoped that this activity would make them more aware of the
things they could do to help the school save energy.
Action
Our Headteacher told the school about the Goodbye Standby
activity in his eco assembly and parents were informed in a regular
eco newsletter, so the whole school community knew about it.
Our Eco Councillors love making notices and posters, so we soon
had plenty of posters around the school reminding everyone to
Switch Off. The School Council and Eco Council had a joint meeting,
then spent part of their lunchtime break making notices for
computer monitors, as they had noticed that some monitors were
being left on when people left the room. The Councillors decided
that they would politely remind their own teachers and any supply
teachers to switch off the whiteboards if they were not being used.
They would also ask teachers to appoint Energy Monitors. Eco
Councillors would also check classrooms regularly and give points
to classes which had switched off electrical equipment; these
points would count towards an inter-class competition for the most
eco-friendly class.
Challenges
Our biggest challenge was that the activity was taking place at
a particularly busy time - we were fund-raising for Children in
Need, rehearsing for our Christmas plays and a local Music Festival
and practising for the District Indoor Athletics Competition!
This meant that our Eco Councillors had to work really hard to
get our message across, and also to find time to check the
classrooms regularly. However, the headteacher told the children
about the challenge during his eco assembly and publicised the
activity in the school newsletter, while the Eco Councillors sent a
note to parents, so that solved the publicity problem. Some of the
School Councillors joined the Eco Councillors in their lunchtime
inspections, which meant another problem was solved.
Pupil leadership
Our Eco Councillors carried out the audits, made the notices and
posters, checked the equipment, read the electricity meter and kept
a record of their findings! They also provided comments for the
activity blog on The Pod. Every child in the school made a pledge
to save energy and these were displayed in the classrooms. Even the
Reception children joined in by making a class pledge. The Energy
Monitors took their duties very seriously and made sure that
equipment was not left on standby at lunchtime.
Resources
The main resource we used was the light bulb pledge, which we
distributed to children and to their parents. However, our Eco
Councillors were concerned that this would waste a lot of paper, so
they decided to reduce the size of the bulb. This meant that we
printed six small bulbs on a sheet of A4 paper, instead of one
large one. Many of our parents returned the pledges, so we were
able to enter these on our school map on The Pod website. We used
The Pod gallery and blogs to publicise our activities and then used
our eco newsletter to draw our parents' attention to The Pod
website.
Local community
The headteacher's eco newsletter to parents was also reproduced
in the local newspaper, so we had plenty of publicity for this
activity. The response from our parents, governors and the local
community was excellent and we received many pledges.
Result
At the end of the Goodbye Standby activity our audit showed that
we had very few items of equipment on standby, and this has
continued to be the case. The activity has made all the children
aware of their responsibilities regarding the use of energy, and it
is not unusual to hear children reminding staff members to turn off
their equipment! The headteacher has commented that it is now rare
for him to find electrical items left on when not in use and that
the switching off of lights is much improved.
Lessons learned
Make sure that the whole school community (pupils, staff,
parents and governors) know about your campaign and understand why
you are doing it. We found that appointing energy monitors in each
class meant that fewer electrical items were left on standby. An
inter-class competition is a good way of getting everyone involved
- you might find that your teachers are very competitive if you
offer suitable rewards!
Next steps
We are currently monitoring our Bug Hotel and hope to finish this activity
very soon. We are about to install a weather station, complete with
anemometer, and some of the children have been making their own
anemometers, so we shall probably look at Will Wind
Work.