Parents raised concerns about the Wolsingham school’s carbon-cutting events, which had been planned.
County Durham Secondary School scraps intentions to turn off the heating for a whole day as part of the initiatives to reduce carbon emissions due to concerns from parents. The institution made a U-turn on a student-led intention to turn the heating off for “blue nose” climate action.
The heating was scheduled to be turned on Friday at Wolsingham School, County Durham. However, the initiative was postponed until the summer term year, when it is likely to be warmer.
Parents were issued with letters earlier this week informing of the intention to turn off the heating throughout the day on “Blue Nose Day”, with students advised to wear extra-thick socks and black V-neck jumpers. They stated: “Please note hoodies will not be permitted and blazers should be worn.”
The Blue Nose Day plan outlines the heating being off to conserve energy and was being done to cut down the school’s carbon footprint and “raise the importance of being more sustainable”.
The school issued a second letter this week, which claimed that the event would not continue as planned after “speaking to several parents regarding their concerns”. It states that the day had been planned by students in the school’s climate action team.
It stated: “The event was designed to raise the importance of being more sustainable in our school community and, in a small way, reducing the school’s carbon footprint.” “The date was carefully chosen by looking at average temperatures by month and short-term weather forecasts, indicating a temperature in Wolsingham of approx. 15C on Friday.
“After careful consideration and speaking to several parents regarding their concerns, the blue nose day scheduled for Friday 18 October 2024 will now not go ahead as planned. School will be open as usual, with staff and students not needing to wear extra layers of clothing and with the heating switched on as on a normal school day.”
The letter said students on the climate action team had “played a key part in making Wolsingham school more sustainable in other ways over the last few academic years. This includes the installation of filtered water coolers, meaning the amount of single-use plastic, from water bottles, has been reduced to extremely close to zero.”
The plan also drew some disapproval of social media from people whose origins can be traced back to 1614.
