Our ‘Seeing R.E.D.’ campaign has received a phenomenal response, with pupils and staff at Acremont Nursery right the way through to Sixth Form throwing their weight behind it!
Not only has the campaign to reflect the climate emergency resulted in a 50% reduction of lights being left on unnecessarily in our boarding houses, but gas consumption (year on year) has dropped by 33%.
Our annual consumption levels were previously the equivalent of 388 domestic homes. If we, as a school community, continue to save energy at the rate we have since the campaign was launched on November 14th, we are set to have reduced that by 96 homes in a year’s time!
The aim of ‘Seeing R.E.D.’ (Reducing Energy Daily) was to persuade every single student and staff member across our 75-acre campus to be more aware about the energy they are using, and potentially wasting, and the impact that this is having on the environment.
King’s already had environmental impact and climate change high on its agenda, but this campaign aimed to inspire lasting change amongst our school community and beyond. We wanted an immediate response – lights being turned off in classrooms, day houses, boarding houses, offices and communal areas when they do not need to be on, as well as radiators and electronic devices.
Energy monitors have been fitted in classrooms and offices, encouraging pupils and staff to ‘Switch Off, Turn Down, Layer Up’; posters have been put up around school; special assemblies have been held; fun competitions have taken place; and snazzy red glitter light switch awards were even made (thank you Mr Ray!) for the class and form group which saved the most energy before Christmas. Congratulations to Mrs Oldham’s Year 7 Form for winning the King’s Ely Junior trophy!
We also promised to make a donation to the charity, Crisis, if a positive change was brought about. Thanks to everyone’s stellar efforts, we will be donating £2,650 to Crisis, which works tirelessly to end homelessness in the UK.
The push was spearheaded by Nick Tappin, Director of Marketing and Admissions at King’s. Mr Tappin said: “We are delighted with the response so far! However, this is an ongoing campaign which will continue when we return in the New Year. Here’s hoping by Seeing R.E.D. and by controlling our energy consumption more effectively, we can all become greener.”