A PRIMARY school has been given nearly £100,000 for a major energy refurbishment.
St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School in Malmesbury has successfully scooped up £98,608 in government grants to help the school on its quest to become carbon neutral.
All the teaching staff, school governors and 129 pupils at St Joseph's have thanked non-profit organisation Salix Finance for delivering this generous government funding.
The money has come from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme which provides grants for public sector bodies to fund energy efficiency measures such as solar panels and roof insulation.
St Joseph’s Primary School was built in 1932 and is currently heated by a boiler which is more than 20 years old.
This new funding will allow the school to replace the boiler with an air source heat pump that will transfer heat from the outside air to water and heat the class rooms via radiators or underfloor heating.
Solar panels have also been installed on the south facing roof of the school.
Improvements such as wall and roof insulation to reduce the school's overall heat demand are also in the works.
This project began in April and aims to be finished before the next academic year starts in September.
The school contributed £17,166 of its capital funds to meet the £115,774 cost for the project.
Chair of governors David Bryson said: “This project will help align the school with the wider communities and our own green strategy with the aim of bringing England's oldest borough into the 21st century and becoming one of the first towns in England to become carbon neutral.
Salix Finance director of the programme Ian Rodger said: “Congratulations to St Joseph’s for the successful bid to the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme.
“This is a solid example of a small primary school being able to put together a strong bid for funding which will not only help carbon emissions but make this school a much more comfortable place for the pupils and staff as well as wider community to use.”
This is the second primary school in Malmesbury to get major funding this year.
Sir James Dyson pledged £6million to fund a STEAM - science, technology, engineering, art and maths - centre at Malmesbury Primary School in March.
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