School cancels plan to turn heating off for ‘Blue Nose Day’ after concerns

A school has cancelled plans to turn the heating off for a whole day this week in a bid to reduce its carbon footprint following concerns from parents.

Wolsingham School, a secondary school in County Durham, had planned to hold a “Blue Nose Day” on Friday to save energy and highlight to pupils the importance of being more sustainable.

But on Tuesday, the state school said the event would no longer go ahead as planned after “speaking to several parents regarding their concerns”.

In a letter to parents, Wolsingham School said the heating would be switched on as normal on Friday and staff and pupils would no longer need to wear extra layers of clothing.

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It added that students in the climate action team will now plan for the “Blue Nose Day” event to go ahead in the summer term next year instead of the middle of October.

The letter sent to parents and carers of pupils from Wolsingham School on Tuesday said: “The event was designed to raise the importance in our school community of being more sustainable and in a small way reduce 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 October 18 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.

“Students in the climate action team have already 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 climate action team will now plan for the day to occur in the summer term 2025 and will communicate with parents/carers leading up to it with details of the event.”