November 12th 2022
Moulsford’s Sustainability Policy was launched in October 2021. A year on, I am very pleased to report that the quest for sustainability remains extremely strong at the school. Much of this is down to the leadership of Jess Roberts, who is very ably supported by Chris Symonds (from the Senior Management Team) and a Moulsford Governor who provides strategic oversight and advice.
On a practical level, we can report the following:
- Food waste is now separated and being recycled locally in an anaerobic digestion plant.
- The school continues to explore electric buses, and while they don’t make sense at present, we believe this will change in a few years.
- Where possible, we have moved to local suppliers, thereby reducing ‘food miles’
- On the new Pre-Prep site:
- Vehicle chargers are installed
- The solar panels on the roof are contributing to the building’s energy supply
- The high insulation levels of the new build, along with the air source heat pumps, make for an extremely energy efficient building
- The ‘breathing building’ design means that no air conditioning is required other than in the server room
Moulsford invested in the HomeRun car sharing app in February 2022. This allows the school to gain a more holistic idea of how parents and staff are travelling to school, assisting us with planning new bus routes, thus limiting the amount of cars on the road.
However, the HomeRun app offers more than this; by signing up and using the HomeRun app you are able to see families who live nearby, or who pass through your village on their daily school runs. You can privately contact these families to arrange car shares during the week, or even on the weekend for fixtures etc.
The more families who use this facility, the more cars we can take off our already busy roads and the less congestion will be found at the school gates. It really is a very useful tool for busy parents as well as benefiting the local area and helping us to decrease our carbon footprint. Since the launch in February:
- 119 parents have signed up, accounting for 141 pupil journeys to school
- Average journey distance of 8 miles (one-way)
- Car usage has been reduced by 11% from the Spring Term 2022 baseline
- This has been achieved with a 92% increase in car sharing
- 13.5 tonnes of CO2 per annum has been reduced from the school run footprint (equivalent to 646 mature trees).
If you are new to the school or haven’t yet signed up, please do so now! The app is very intuitive and easy to use. Simply click this live activation link and follow the step by step set up wizard to ensure you get the best experience tailored to your journeys. Use the ‘Explore’ tab to search for nearby parents whom you can contact directly through the app in order to set up a car share.
All data is securely and privately held, but the app will provide Moulsford with anonymous information about travel habits to help us improve options and promote and increase the level of sustainable travel to school. So, even if you are not in a position to car share, signing up to the app will allow us as a school to get a more holistic view of your journeys and possibly come up with some further sustainable options in the future.
Most importantly, we continue to educate the children through assemblies, the curriculum and other means on the importance of living sustainably. With COP27 in full swing in Sharm El-Sheikh, families may be interested in attending one of the Global Day of Action for Climate Justice events which are being held across the country on 12th November, and I believe are child friendly events. For further information please click on this link find your local demo here
