Environmental Sustainability - Whitefriars School

Whitefriars School is committed to reducing its environmental impact while educating pupils to become responsible, climate-aware citizens. Sustainability is embedded into our curriculum, daily operations, and long-term strategic planning, ensuring that environmental responsibility is part of everyday school life.

🌍 Big Climate Wins This Year!

We’re proud to share that we’ve partnered with Lets Go Zero and worked alongside a brilliant Climate Action Plan advisor to measure, track, and reduce our carbon footprint 💪

The numbers (and they’re worth celebrating!)

Baseline carbon footprint (2024–25): 1136.30 tCO₂e End of Year 1 (Jan 2026): 1107.41 tCO₂e

🎉 Total reduction achieved: 🌟 75 tonnes of CO₂e! 🌟

🚗 Cars	🌳 Trees	⚡Electricity Use
About 17–18 petrol cars driven for a whole year That’s roughly 180,000 miles of driving 🚙🚙🚙 👉 Imagine 18 cars driving around every day for a year.	Over 3,400 trees would need to grow for one year to absorb that much CO₂ OR 170 trees growing for 20 years 👉 That’s more trees than most school playgrounds could ever fit!	Enough electricity to power about 15 homes for a whole year Or a school using electricity every day for several years 👉 Lights, computers, whiteboards, and chargers all add up.

How did we do it?

This reduction reflects The actions set out in our 2024–25 Climate Action Plan

· Energy: 25 tonnes CO₂e saved through switch-off campaigns, improved building management systems, and energy monitoring

· Transport: 47 tonnes CO₂e saved through reduced flights on school trips and increased active travel

· Purchasing: 3 tonnes CO₂e saved through a successful school uniform reuse programme

· Culture & Education: Increased pupil and staff engagement through Eco Warriors, assemblies, enrichment, and curriculum integration

💚 Every pupil, every classroom, every small action helped make this happen.

Our Action Plan for 2025–26

Key priorities for 2025–26 include:

· Completing LED lighting upgrades across the school estate

· Further reducing energy use through Energy Sparks monitoring and behaviour change

· Expanding sustainable food provision and reducing single-use plastics

· Increasing active travel

· Strengthening recycling systems and reducing contamination through pupil-led initiatives

· Developing outdoor learning and biodiversity spaces, including Forest School provision

👉 Read our Climate Action Plan 2025-26

Whitefriars School is co-producing its Environmental Sustainability Policy with Eco Warriors, staff and the wider school community, ensuring shared ownership and accountability.

The updated policy will be published shortly.

Climate Action Plan – Year 1

Please click here to download

Climate Action Plan – Year 2

Please click here to download

Climate Action Plan – Year 1

Climate Action Plan – Year 2

School Status