Run a switch off campaign
Tregolls Academy, Monday, 24 February 2025
30
Change-maker
KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5
What you did
Over the school holidays we set about turning off all appliances that would be running in the background, this included 8 ipad/laptop trollies that would ordinarily be left on charge for the duration of the holiday. We asked the site manager to turn the back on the last Friday of the holiday. We turned off fridges in the kitchen that were not being used moving all freezer food and fridge food into one to so that it could be turned off. We have defrosted and cleared the freezer in the staff room allowing it to run more efficiently and turned off the hot water boiler for the duration of the holiday. We will ensure that this is a holiday ritual that we completed each time.
An assembly will take place on the 24.2.25 where we establish further methods of reducing energy, keeping the school clean and reducing food waste but setting up an eco team with a member of the team sitting on the pupil parliament.
An assembly will take place on the 24.2.25 where we establish further methods of reducing energy, keeping the school clean and reducing food waste but setting up an eco team with a member of the team sitting on the pupil parliament.
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.
