Let’s Go Zero school action: Stony Dean School, England
Stony Dean School has done a lot of work to make their school more sustainable. These include:
Installing LED lights and solar panels leading to thousands of pounds of savings a year.
Planting trees in the local community and maintaining the area for biodiversity.
Introducing a once-a-week meat-free day.
Explore the Let’s Go Zero map to see where else teachers, students and school communities are taking action to become zero carbon by 2030.
The teachers and students leading the action:
“The benefits of being more sustainable is that it reduces your running costs and subsequently helps the schools budget. So, a compete win, win!”
Neil Strain Headteacher
What are they doing in their school?
The school have tried to decarbonise some of their travel by ordering some electric 9-seaters and installing some EV charge points. This was an easy win for them as financially it is similar to traditional diesel vans.
After students learnt about the negative impact the meat industry has on the planet, they worked with the schools catering team to look at the school menu and introduced a once-a-week meat-free day.
Students have planted trees and every year maintain an area of land as part of some work experience with the council. They have created bug hotels and work to improve the overall biodiversity of the site working with other members in the community.
Through applying for Salix funding the school has manged to replace all lighting to LED and install 94 solar panels. This has led to a £300 monthly saving on lighting and a £2700 annual saving due to the solar panels after repaying the loan. This money can be fed back into the school to support learning and other initiatives.