ACTIS Insulation helps primary school in Kent become the first carbon neutral school

(15/10/2009)

St Peter’s School in Aylesford, Kent, educates children from age four to 11. ACTIS Insulation is working with the primary school to help it reach its goal of becoming the UK’s first carbon neutral school. The project, being driven by Head Teacher Simon Temple, was initiated this Summer as part of a School House Challenge and now forms an important part of the school’s curriculum.

As part of the process, The School Council discusses new plans and initiatives to reduce the school’s environmental impact, which are in-turn relayed to the children to debate. The children then conduct experiments to determine the best course of action.

An important part of the programme is ensuring the school is insulated to the highest standard possible. To do this ACTIS insulation was approached and agreed to supply approximately 440 m² of TS10 Multifoil insulation, as well as its latest environmentally friendly insulation Sylvactis. Launched earlier this year, Sylvactis is made from wood wool fibres obtained from sustainably managed forests, so ties into the school’s wider environmental strategy.

Matthew King, Manager of ACTIS Insulation said: “Sustainability is at the heart of everything we do as an organisation, so to work in partnership with St. Peter’s has proven a perfect match.”

Before approaching ACTIS, the children were asked to conduct an experiment in which they filled Ribena cartons with hot water, wrapped them in a variety of insulation products and measured which product performed the best at retaining heat. As a result, ACTIS Multifoils were identified as the best product in terms of its thermal performance.

St. Peter’s is an old Victorian building, which was erected in 1836 and therefore poses enormous challenges due to the airy nature of its construction and design. From an insulation perspective, the ACTIS Multifoil product meant that installation could still be achieved even in the most challenging areas, such as small spaces, high ceilings and rafters.

In addition to insulating the school’s buildings, St. Peter’s will soon take receipt of two Solar-Thermal units to preheat the school’s water systems to supplement the kinetic energy transfer heating systems, powered by photo-electric cells in the most sustainable way. The school is also in discussion with parents to introduce ‘Walk to School’ clubs and other initiatives to ensure that environmental best practice is something that is taken out of the classroom and into the local community.

Throughout the school, the children are split into two groups, ‘Power Rangers’ and ‘Eco-Warriors’, and are assigned tasks to reduce the overall environmental impact of the school. The Power Rangers are responsible for ensuring that all electrical equipment is switched off when not used, while the Eco-Warriors work tirelessly to recycle all materials used by the school.

Head Teacher Simon Temple said: “We’re still in the early stages, but have a clear strategy to reduce, reuse and recycle throughout the school, while using renewable sources to power, heat and light the building. I want to show that if we can achieve this target, others can follow suit and we can all really make a global difference.”

Matthew King from ACTIS added: “The project is hugely important. Not only will the school massively reduce its overheads and impact on the environment, it’s also ensuring that the children are learning about science and the environment in a unique, interesting way. I am so pleased that ACTIS has been able to support such an innovative and worthwhile project.”

Related categories:  Biodegradable waste   Environmental technologies for offices and commercial   Glass recycling   Insulation   Metal recycling   Paper and cardboard recycling   Plastic recycling   Solar power and photovoltaics