Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School recognises the climate emergency and is on a journey towards a low carbon, sustainable future. We are proud of what we have already achieved, but there is so much more still to do. Our Climate Action Plan 2025-2030 is available to download below.

Decarbonisation

What we have already done

We have reduced our annual gas consumption by 80% from 180,000kWH to 100,000kWH, reduced our annual electricity usage by 60% from 40,000kWh to 25,000kWh, installed automated water meter reading, fitted LED lighting throughout the school, installed a bike shed and scooter park to encourage more cycling, separated our waste streams, used only carbon neutral certified paper, redecorated classrooms with no-VOC paint, donated surplus to requirements furniture to the developing world, installed additional PIR sensors in low use areas, recycled uniform through the city’s uniform exchanges, increased the thermal performance of our roof, and procured responsibly wherever possible (e.g. buying second hand rather than new books for our library).

In May 2022, with the support of the Academy Trust and in partnership with Solar for Schools, we installed a 55kWp solar panel system on our roof. The system consists of 134 solar panels and meets around two-thirds of our electricity needs annually. Over its 25 year life, it will stop 226 tonnes of CO2 emissions, inspire our children with energy learning opportunities, and save tens of thousands of pounds by providing the school with free electricity. Click here to find out how our solar panels performed in the last week.

Our total carbon footprint is estimated to be 136 tonnes of CO2 (tCO2) per year. This is equivalent to a carbon footprint per pupil per year of 0.76 tCO2, compared to a primary school average of 0.95-1.26 (data taken from Count your Carbon scores of schools engaging with a Climate Action Advisor).

Adaption and resilience

We are:

• Monitoring real-time water consumption through our Automated Meter Reading (AMR) portal, and address leaks
• Partnering with Yorkshire Water by installing a temporary rain gauge on our shipping container roof to measure surface water flood risk
• Considering long-term options to reduce the impact of summer over-heating in our south facing classrooms, including window shading or green walls

Environment and biodiversity

We are:

• Planning to develop the green bank above the Key Stage 2 playground into a more biodiverse space
• Planning to compost all raw food waste from the kitchen on-site
• Organising annual litter picking on the school playing field

Climate education

We are:

• Aiming for Eco-Schools Green Flag accreditation by July 2027
• Running an annual solar energy assembly or workshop in partnership with Solar for Schools