Appoint pupil energy monitors in all classes

Trinity C of E First School, Frome, Thursday, 24 October 2019
5 Change-maker KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, KS5

What you did

Each class years 2 - 4 have appointed two energy sparks representatives. These children will be responsible for the energy saving of the class they are in. We have made and decorated posters outlining their responsibilities. 

Energy Sparks Responsibilities

1.          Make sure the lights are switched off during assemble, playtime and lunchtime unless the room is being used. 
 
2.        Make sure the projectors are switched off during break and lunch. 
 
 
3.        Make sure the doors and windows are shut when the heating is on. 

Their posters will be laminated and placed in a visible location in each classroom. 

Activity description

Pupils - you can have a huge impact on the amount of energy that your school uses and the carbon it produces just by influencing the behaviour of other pupils and the adults in the school!

There are many ways to do this.  As well as creating an Energy Team of dedicated individuals who have responsibility for your overall Energy Plan, you can involve more pupils by appointing Energy Monitors for each class.  They can carry out a selection of monitoring activities on a regular basis such as:

  1. Spot checks of classroom temperatures
  2. Spot checks to see if lights / electrical items are left on at lunch time
  3. Spot checks to see if lights / IT are left on after school
  4. Spot checks of the school's thermostat settings
  5. Monitoring whether adults / pupils are wearing warmer clothes inside the school building during winter
  6. Monitoring whether outside doors / windows are closed during cold weather

Pupils of all ages can become  ‘detectives’ to see if lights, whiteboards and appliances have been left on unnecessarily, and reminding their friends and teachers to switch them off. When the school’s heating is switched on, pupils can be made responsible for checking that doors and windows are not left open. Depending on your school’s heating system, they may also be able to monitor classroom temperatures and ensure that thermostatic controls are used to ensure optimum temperatures for learning. 

Consider running these monitoring activities daily when you first start, and then move to weekly monitoring to ensure any improvements are maintained:

All these monitoring activities fit in with other Energy Sparks activities, so you can earn double points by appointing school energy monitors. 

All activities