A Huddersfield school has launched a bold bid - to harness the power of the sun.
And the 240 youngsters at Spring Grove School hope it will cement their reputation as a green school.
They have entered a national competition called “Run On The Sun” to try and win funding for solar panels.
Their bid has been backed by local councillors, who have urged people in Huddersfield to vote for the school in the online contest.
Kirklees Green Party councillors have backed the school’s bid to put solar panels on the roof of their historic building.
The school in Water Street, Springwood, has entered the Friends of the Earth competition where schools from around the country are bidding to get solar panels installed to help reduce their energy bills and carbon emissions.
It is the latest in a series of environmental initiatives launched by the school, which is in an urban area, on the fringes of the town centre and close to the ring road.
Deputy head Debbie Kelly said: “We do an awful lot to encourage the children to care for the environment and respect it.
“We have raised beds so that each class can grow their own seeds and produce vegetables for soups or salads, and we monitor things like food wastage and waste paper.
“There is a school Eco Council and they encourage every class to get invoplved.
“The building dates back to 1879 but is very well maintained. We had it rewired a couple of years ago and have had lower ceilings put in each classroom to improve energy usage.
“We saw the competition and thought it fitted in very well with our ethos here”.
Clr Andrew Cooper said: ““It is great that a local school is in the running to win their own renewable energy source generating electricity from the sun.
“With lower capital costs for solar and the Feed In Tariff for renewable electricity there has never been a better time to install solar on homes, public buildings and schools. At a time of financial pressure investing in solar panels is one way to significantly reduce ongoing revenue costs.”
Clr Julie Stewart Turner also backed the school bid. “If Spring Grove’s bid is successful they would be he third school in our patch that will have solar panels. It is really good that the pupils themselves have been involved in developing the bid to Friends of the Earth.
“Young people are increasingly well informed about climate change and the different ways of combating it. Solar panels are an important way of reducing carbon emissions from buildings and reducing the demand for energy from more polluting sources.”
To back the school go through a link on the Greening Kirklees website at www.greeningkirklees.blogspot.co.uk . The closing date is January 9.
