Oxford’s St Mary and St John CE Primary School invests in energy efficient classrooms
Pupils at Oxford’s St Mary and St John CE Primary School are set to benefit from environmentally friendly classrooms after successfully applying for a schools energy efficiency loan from Oxfordshire County Council.
The county council has been running the interest free loan scheme since July 2023 to help maintained schools reduce their overall energy usage, which in turn could help cut operational costs.
The school, located on Meadow Lane, applied to the council for just over £69,000, out of an £800,000 fund, to finance the installation of solar panels and a battery storage system.
Councillor John Howson, Oxfordshire County Council Cabinet Member for Children, Education and Young People’s Services, said: “We’ve already carried out 50 energy efficiency audits on our council maintained schools. The latest round of the loan scheme was launched last year, with St Mary and St John CE Primary School being the sixth to make use of the fund.”
Rebekah Stott, Headteacher at St Mary and St John CE Primary School, said: “We treat energy efficiency seriously at our school and encourage the children to understand why it’s so important to look after the environment. This investment will help us to reduce our carbon footprint.”
Other schools are applying for energy efficiency loans and details of their plans will be released in the coming months.
Action on Carbon and Energy in Schools (ACES), an energy efficiency support service, funded by Oxfordshire County Council and delivered by Oxford Brookes University and Low Carbon Hub, has been supporting schools with applying for the loan.
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