Set up an Energy or Eco team to lead on energy efficiency at your school

Hillside Primary School, Monday, 22 September 2025
30 points 12 pupils Change-maker KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4

I set up and run an Eco Council with one child from each class across all year groups. We meet every two weeks to talk about ways we can help the environment and make our school more eco-friendly. The children bring ideas from their classes, so everyone has a chance to have their voice heard.

As a group, we plan and take part in a range of activities, such as litter picking around the school, creating posters and displays to remind people to turn off lights and equipment, and thinking of simple changes we can make to be more sustainable.

Being part of the Eco Council helps children build confidence, take on responsibility and develop a better understanding of how small actions can make a difference, while encouraging a whole-school approach to looking after our environment.

Activity description

Some schools will already have an Eco-committee or similar which will take on this role. Other schools may choose to appoint a class to lead on energy efficiency. Decide which staff will support your team.

In most areas Energy Sparks can help support your Energy Team with visits or online sessions from trained professional educators, volunteer energy mentors or with STEM Ambassadors.  Please book a workshop here.

Educate your team about climate change and energy by carrying out some of the Energy Sparks Explorer activities. Make sure they are really knowledgeable about the importance of energy and climate change, at an appropriate level for their age. It is important that pupils have significant input into the decision-making process and take ownership of any energy saving plans made.

Set up the times and places for your team to meet, including when they will report to the school management team including governor representatives. Your team could split into several sub-groups focussing on different aspects of energy saving.

Your Energy Team will be responsible for reviewing the current energy use situation (using the Energy Sparks charts), developing an energy saving action plan, and monitoring, recording and reducing your energy use. They will particularly be responsible for communicating to your school community, conducting switch off campaigns and measuring how much energy is saved or wasted by pupil and staff behaviour. The group may decide to have a high profile energy efficiency campaign involving the whole school, possibly a power down/layer up day or switch-off fortnight. The team will also need to revisit energy issues on a regular basis to ensure that changes made are sustained over time.

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