Bringing the environment into schools
Encouraging pupils to love their environment
In 2007, Balfour Beatty Capital’s concession company Transform Schools and Haden Building Management launched ‘I Love My Environment’.
The flagship initiative is designed to help schools to become more sustainable in their buildings, curriculum and community.
The set of resources have been compiled in line with the DCSF Sustainable Schools guidelines, although they can equally apply to Eco or Healthy Schools activities.
In addition to resources, audits and project ideas, the initiative provides cash rewards to those schools achieving the best results against their own action plans.
Most exciting is the opportunity to win an electric powered kit car, which the schools can engineer and race. They represent their area in an annual ‘Green Grand Prix’.
By encouraging the schools to focus on sustainability, all stakeholders benefit from an improved sense of ownership from staff and pupils.
They look after their facilities better, reduce wear and tear, pay attention to litter and graffiti levels and monitor energy.
It also encourages the wider community to get involved with the school and benefit from the new or improved facilities.
The best form of security for these sites is respect from the community that surrounds them. This is particularly important in the context of PFI-managed schools.
Stoke-on-Trent’s first ‘green’ school
Joiner’s Square Primary School, part of the Stoke Schools PFI project, is Stoke-on-Trent’s first environmentally friendly school.
Balfour Beatty Construction Northern implemented several systems to allow the new school to produce clean, renewable energy.
A 2.5kW wind turbine in the school grounds provides electricity for the school during operating hours. Out of school hours, the energy is fed into the national grid.
A rainwater collection and transfer system feeds rainfall from the school’s roof into an underground tank. When enough water has been collected, it is transferred to a high-level storage tank in the main school building. It is then used throughout the school for flushing toilets. When rainfall is low, the storage tank is topped up by mains supply.
A photovoltaic system on the school’s roof consists of 15 modules, which convert solar radiation into electricity.
A solar thermal system provides the school with hot water. Flow and return pipe work from five flat plate solar collectors, also mounted on the roof, are connected to the hot water cylinder in the plant room. This provides hot water for the schoolchildren and cold water is pumped back up to the collectors.
Information is collected from the energy saving plant to be used as a learning tool by pupils. A plasma screen in the school’s reception area displays external weather conditions and shows students how natural resources are being used to provide power to the school. They can access the system through any PC in any school within Stoke-on-Trent’s schools estate.
