With 91% of schools facing funding cuts, many local schools are in dire need of saving money to ensure that their students receive the very best education possible. With this in mind, a group of Steyning Grammar School students have decided to take the matter in to their own hands, founding a project to save the school money, whilst incorporating their love of the environment. They have launched the SGS Eco-Council, challenging themselves with the task of changing people’s mind-sets to better look after the school’s environment, whilst aiming to save money for the school by reducing their electricity consumption.

A target of reducing the energy consumption of the whole school by 10% has been set-equating to a total of £13,000 per year. To help with the ambitious task, the students have signed up to the Eco-Schools programme-a pupil led programme that helps the whole school and wider community get involved in exciting environmental projects. Currently, the project has 52,000 schools and 19.5 million students signed up across the UK and Steyning are aiming for its most prestigious environmental accolade-The Green Flag Award.

SGS Eco Council is surveying Steyning’s three campuses throughout the year in order to determine the scale of the electricity wastage problem at hand. The team actively map the three sights, collecting data of energy usage, before collaborating through weekly meetings to discuss their results and aims.

A competitive element is already being introduced-an apprentice style leadership and enterprise day. Each year group will be tasked with looking at solutions to large scale environmental issues, presenting their finds to a panel of local head teachers and those with knowledge in the field. The leaders of the project hope this will provide an incentive for children to really start thinking about the way that they use energy and looking towards their energy footprint in the future.

Additionally, the council aims to get local primary schools on board with the project, hoping to provide a collective energy saving community throughout Sussx.

Joshua Payne, founder and lead joint coordinator of the project, spoke to me about his ambitions. “Steyning Grammar School, being a transformational school, is going leaps and bounds towards a brighter and greener future for the school and the world. With over 30 budding ambassadors and further plans to encompass our incredible local primary schools, the SGS Eco Council will strive to bring about change in our community”