Â鶹ÉçÇø

Energy Management

Our long term aim is to reduce the amount of energy consumed by the School and therefore lower our carbon footprint.

The long term strategy for the Â鶹ÉçÇøsites is to increase Solar PV electricity generation and to utilise ground source heat pumps as a sustainable source of energy from heating and hot water. 

In the interim, our strategy is to seek sustainable solutions whenever we build new buildings or undertake significant refurbishment or maintenance (subject to capital constraints).

Our primary aim will always be to seek to enhance the thermal performance of the building and our secondary aim will be to instal sustainable energy sources for heating and lighting.

Our Achievements so far

100% of the electricity supplied from the grid across the four School sites comes from renewable sources.

The thermal efficiency of Elmshurst, Cobham and Webber have been improved through recent refurbishment projects. Exterior walls and roofs have been insulated and high performance windows have been installed. The refurbishment of Hayward in the last year involved installing new windows to minimise heat loss and reduce energy consumption. 

Our strategy is to seek sustainable heating and lighting solutions whenever possible. Recent improvements include:-

• Winterfold Penryn Hall - completed in August 2024, Penryn Hall was built to a high thermal efficiency design and utilises Solar PV and an air source heat pump with an air handling unit in order that Winterfold can reduce its dependence on oil
• Air Source Heat Pumps - all heating in Winterfold Penryn Hall, Bromsgrove's Routh Hall, the Prep Headmaster's House and the Elmshurst flat is provided by air source heat pumps
• Dining Hall - an array of Solar PVs have been added to the roof to facilitate c18% of the electricity being used in the building coming from self-generated electricity
• Wendron-Gordon - the Solar thermal tubes installed on the annexe roof are providing two thirds of the hot water used for showers
• Llanwrtyd Centre (Prep Art) - new modern future proof hydrogen ready boilers have been installed to improve efficiency, replacing older boilers

The LED lighting replacement programme continues with LED lighting installed to the Senior Dining Hall following successful LED upgrades to Kyteless, Wendron-Gordon, the Admin block and the Pre-Prep. 

The Estates department have a Building Management system (Trend) which allows them to centrally control maximum temperatures for heating systems and includes efficient weather compensation features to allow for the most efficient heating of the buildings. Currently over 80% of our buildings are on this system. Smart meters are also installed across the site.

Plant rooms have been reviewed and additional lagging has been installed.
   

Our Plans for the Future

With regard to our current building developments:

• The Senior School Swimming Pool is the highest user of both gas and electricity across the four sites. We are exploring opportunities to reduce the carbon footprint of the pool including electric boilers and heat pumps. Solar PV and improvements to the pool filtration system, which will reduce the energy and water consumption, are required for the safe operation of the pool. In the meantime, we will install inverters to the boilers to reduce energy use
• Laundry and Grounds – both of these buildings have been identified as future net zero buildings. Plans will be developed to consider options

In addition, we will:

• Continue to comply with all ESOS and SECR reporting requirements
• Continue to review all radiators around the School and add temperature monitoring valves, where possible, to allow local control (maximum temperatures will be set by BMS)
• Aim to undertake thermal image surveys and obtain EPC ratings for our buildings to ensure that we remain focused on the highest priorities
• We hope to install a School wide ground source ambient loop network to allow for the installation of ground source heat pumps to replace the current Gas boiler systems for heating and hot water. 

Transport

This includes:

• Staff and families travelling to and from School
• School Transport for games, trips, activities etc
• Estates and Grounds Transport

Whilst our families and our staff will make individual decisions about sustainability, the School needs to support them by providing opportunities for carbon reduction wherever possible.

As technology develops with Minibuses, Buses and Grounds equipment, the School will continue to review all vehicle and equipment provision to ensure that sustainable changes are made.

Our Achievements so far

The Estates team use an electric van to distribute post and parcels across the School campuses. 

The catering team also use an electric vehicle. 

The Grounds and Gardening teams have moved over to electric utility vehicles to transport equipment around the sites. The Grounds team have a replacement policy to replace chainsaws, leaf blowers and hedge cutter with electric equivalents. All gardening equipment is now electric, with one of the large diesel mowers used on the sports pitches having been replaced with an electric equivalent. 

Our plans for the future

The School transport team and the Sports teams will seek to reduce carbon by sharing transport wherever possible for sports fixtures and avoiding the situation where large buses are used to transport a small number of pupils.


We believe that it will not be long until electric minibuses are introduced on the market. We are watching this development closely as we have a significant number of minibuses used for the daily School home transport service. The Grounds team are also monitoring the market for developments in electric (or hydrogen) tractors and sit on mowers.

• As and when Estates and Grounds vans need replacing, we will consider replacing with electric models. We are encouraging teams to walk rather than use vehicles whenever it is possible
• We will continue to encourage our families to share school runs or to use the School transport service
• We will continue to promote the tax efficient “cycle to work” scheme for all staff and we will be investigating the Electric Vehicles Scheme for staff

Futures plans around the grounds include planting a native hedge along the edge of the footpath at the top of the astro pitches. When completed, this will made a wildlife corridor of mixed hedges which runs from South Car park all the way through to the Prep School. 

Waste Management

One of our main achievements so far is that none of our waste goes to landfill sites. We have a reputable waste management partner, B&M Waste who assist the School in ensuring that all of our waste is disposed of responsibly:

• All recycled waste goes to a Recycling Centre
• All food waste goes to an Anaerobic Digestion Waste Management site.
• All metal is recycled by a local metal contractor.
• All cardboard is compacted on site and 100% recycled. This includes a significant amount of packaging from catering and boarder deliveries.
• All general (non recycled) waste goes to incineration and generates refuse derived fuel (RDF).
• No waste goes to landfill.

We have installed recycling stations across our Schools to encourage the community to recycle.

Plastic drinking bottles have been banned from School, and reusable take-away cups have been introduced in Cafe 1553.

We have improved the digitalisation of the School which has had a significant impact in reducing the volume of paper waste.

Whilst our carbon is low due to responsible recyclying, we remain concerned about the volume of general waste not being recycled at source. We are trialling new recycling bins to increase the recycling at source. 

The largest waste type continues to be household waste, however, this is lower than the previous years. We set ourselves a target of reducing waste by 5% in the year, with a 9.5% reduction from 2022/23. 

Our Plans for the Future

Our overall aim is to reduce waste by 5% in the 2025/26 year. 

Our Eco Committees are committed to trying to reduce plate waste. There will be a number of new initiatives in 2025/26 led by our pupils to encourage their peers to act responsibly and avoid food waste.

Our Catering partners, Holroyd Howe are committed to reducing food preparation waste. They are monitoring, recording and tracking waste to inform menu production planning. They are also looking to re-use products which are wasted in other recipes e.g. bananas, potatoes, leaves. All food waste will continue to be separated from general waste to go to the School’s Anaerobic Waste site. All other products e.g. tins and boxes are recycled to minimise the volume of general waste.

Our catering partners are introducing new initiatives regarding portion sizes to encourage our pupils to avoid plate waste. This year, they have worked with pupils on a plate waste video and tasting table made from left overs. Pupils are also using reusable water bottles and cups around School. 

Biodiversity

We are extremely fortunate as we have beautiful natural grounds across our four Schools. We also have a Grounds team who are totally committed to managing, protecting and enhancing the natural habitats across our estate. They are also very active in developing planting schemes to offset the carbon generated across the site.

Our pupils are also very engaged in biodiversity projects through the Eco Committees, the Gardening Clubs and the Forest School activities.

One significant ongoing achievement is that all grounds waste is composted and recycled across our four sites.

The team now buys the hanging baskets used at Winterfold, the Senior School cricket pavlion and Housman Hall from the pupil-led Greenfingers project at Winterfold. They grow all the plants used from seed in the polytunnel at School. 

Over the past ten years, the Gardening team has cut the amount of bedding plants purchased by around 90%, and with help from the Greenfingers project next year, this will be 100%. This cuts down on transportation from Europe, as most of our plants willbe homegrown. They now use more sustainable planting schemes, where possible, across all the School sites. 

Over 10,000 bulbs and around 800 trees, mainly in the form of native hedges spread across all School sites, have been planted this Autumn/Winter, with help from the Eco-Committees. In both the Prep and Senior Schools, bird boxes built by the pupils have been erected around the grounds. 

In March 2024, the School created a new position where a member of the Gardening team now works full time across all of our pupil gardening clubs. 

Reducing Carbon

Our long term aim is to reduce the amount of energy consumed by the School and therefore lower our carbon footprint.

The long term strategy for the Â鶹ÉçÇøsites is linked to a project being led by Â鶹ÉçÇøDistrict Council to introduce a Central Heat Network using ground source heat pumps as a sustainable source of energy. We are working with the Council to discuss the feasibility of this long term solution.

In the interim, our strategy is to seek sustainable solutions whenever we build new buildings or undertake significant refurbishment or maintenance (subject to capital constraints).

Our primary aim will always be to seek to enhance the thermal performance of the building and our secondary aim will be to instal sustainable energy sources for heating and lighting.

Our Achievements so far

100% of the electricity supplied from the grid across the four School sites comes from renewable sources.

The thermal efficiency of Elmshurst, Cobham and Webber have been improved through recent refurbishment projects. Exterior walls and roofs have been insulated and high performance windows have been installed. The ongoing refurbishment of Wendron Gordon also involves insulating the roof and installing new windows to avoid heat loss.

Our strategy is to seek sustainable heating and lighting solutions whenever possible. Recent improvements include:

• Routh Music Hall – all heating is provided from an air source heat pump
• Elmshurst – a separate air source heat pump has been introduced for staff accommodation
• Wendron-Gordon – Solar thermal tubes have been added to the annexe roof ensuring that two thirds of the hot water used for showers comes from solar energy

An LED lighting replacement programme has commenced. In the Senior School, all of the lighting in the Humanities block, the Wendron Gordon boarding house, Millington, Café 1553 and the CCF have been converted to LED. The Senior School new astroturf and tennis courts lighting has also been changed to LED.

The Estates department have a Building Management system (Trend) which allows them to centrally control maximum temperatures for heating systems. Currently 72% of our buildings are on this system. Smart meters are also installed across the site.

Plant rooms have been reviewed and additional lagging has been installed.

We have data for each School building of both the gas and electric carbon emissions. By sharing this data with the community, we hope that this will provide additional focus in driving our emissions down. We have 80 buildings – the charts show the 10 highest usage buildings with the other 70 combined within the orange band.

We have changed suppliers and tariffs to ensure that 100% of the electricty supplied from the grid across the four School sites comes from renewable sources. This year, there has been a further decrease in emissions as a result of a combination of the implementation of energy efficient projects and a commitment by the School community to reduce our carbon footprint by continuing our transition from Gas to Electricity.