Inspiration Trust pledges to reduce energy consumption by 20% across the entirety of its schools

As part of the Department for Education’s Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy, Inspiration Trust has committed to reducing its energy usage by 20% to both reduce costs and help save our planet, all while helping our students understand why both of these things are so important. 

As a Trust, we are proud to say we are currently hitting this target and there are a number of initiatives that have been put in place to ensure we are successful in our mission to become more environmentally-friendly. 

As most of our estate's portfolio will need retrofitting, the Estates team led by Head of Estates, Cheryl Ward and her team, Matt Bland and Nic Hunt, have already, with the support of the Inspiration Trust Board, completed a 100% LED lighting installation across our large number of schools. The team has partnered with our energy broker to bring cultural and organisational change across our buildings, pushing for staff, students, and visitors to identify, make and demonstrate energy savings. 

Energy Monitoring has been and will continue to be at the forefront of our drive to identify areas of tactical improvement. Inspiration Trust uses AI-powered platforms to gather and analyse data to help drive our mission of making every building healthy (Safe, Warm and Dry), efficient and sustainable. This data directs us to areas that require a clinical and detailed investigation across the estate.

We are delighted to say that all of our staff and students have embraced these changes, with a number of activities taking place across all of our schools to support energy reduction. Staff have been participating in CPDs to further learn about how to reduce energy consumption, while schools have designated Eco-Champions and set up student-based Eco-Committees who come together to discuss how energy can be saved, complete audits and ensure lights and appliances are turned off when not in use. 

Other schools have created eco-based challenges, recording data to see which department is the most energy efficient at the end of each half term, while others are awarding students Green Eco-Tickets to acknowledge their support, as well as getting their ‘Friends Of’ groups involved, with some even investing in thermal imaging guns to engage students in the cause even further. 

And, the passion hasn’t stopped in school, many students have been working within their local communities to do better things for the planet - such as planting trees or building partnerships with Green Influencers. 

Everyone at Inspiration Trust is extremely proud of everything all our colleagues and students are doing across our schools to support our planet and the Department of Education’s legislative targets and its mission to be Net Zero by 2050.