Pupils at Tenby CiW Primary School brought their Footprints Across the Planet project to an energetic conclusion at their Power the Party event at Tenby Leisure Centre, an energetic finish to an inspiring collaboration between Egni Co-op, Pembrokeshire County Council, Tenby Leisure Centre and Tenby Primary School led by Education Programme Lead, Jennifer James.
The Footprints across the Planet project set out to ask how we can be more sustainable, use less energy and reduce our carbon footprint.
Throughout the year pupils took part in a variety of face to face and online We are Energy Warriors workshops instilling the ethos of environmental stewardship and behaviour change in the pupils. From a Battery Coin Experiment with Swansea University, a workshop on How Electricity Works with Cardiff University, energy and power with Pembrokeshire Coastal Forum to inspirational talks from explorers in the Arctic and Antarctic pupils explored the topical themes of climate change. In addition to this, Energy Warriors met Energy Champions at Tenby Leisure Centre to find out more about how they used energy, to share their learning in order to help them to reduce their energy use and develop responsible behaviour change in customers and staff.
Tenby Leisure Centre has a 70kW of solar PV system and a 102 kWh storage battery. To date the solar at Tenby Leisure Centre has saved CO2 from the atmosphere and the installation of the battery is reducing it even more. This project provided an opportunity for real life problem solving exploring how much energy the centre used, and how it could use the solar energy and the energy saved in the battery wisely. Their main investigation was the pool, as they found out that this was the biggest energy guzzler onsite and the best way to save energy was to design a better cover!
Jen explains: “these hands-on experiences are invaluable and the pupils embraced the responsibility of the project with enthusiasm and curiosity. The ambitious and ethical pupils shared their learning eloquently with the guests at the party including STEM insights and tips for energy reduction. The pupils yesterday told me that they regularly patrol the corridors looking for equipment that has been left on and reward staff (and classes) on a points-based system! We are pleased to see on Energy Sparks (the platform that we use to monitor energy use) that their energy use has gone down by 9% this year. Hopefully, their expertise will lead to more energy reduction at the leisure centre.”
The POWER THE PARTY – ENERGY IN ACTION event on 7 July at Tenby Leisure Centre
Our Energy Warriors from Year 5 welcomed visitors from school, the leisure centre, the county council and their families and shared their journeys as Energy warriors, detectives and change-makers. They ran stalls that creatively demonstrated and explored energy waste, generation and storage; made batteries; demonstrated behaviour change; and much more. The Pedal Powered Disco led by Ynni Da, generated music all morning with a battery level scoreboard that showed the effort required to generate the necessary energy. Solar-powered bugs and a visit to the onsite battery with a talk led by Michael Switzer, Egni Operations Manager, offered more real-world opportunities to understand how we are all part of the energy system.
Gary Nicholas, PCC Leisure Services Manager thanked everyone who had taken part:
“Thanks to all involved – especially to you Rhys, and to Jen. The children were outstanding and it was really evident that they had learnt a lot and perhaps more importantly, had thoroughly enjoyed the process which is quite an achievement.”
Two pupils from Year 5, Tenby CiW Primary School, wearing ‘PV panel capes’, with Home Energy surveys.
