Communities Fund has provided £1,040 of match funding
Let The Sun Shine On NSH: School Solar Project
Sandhurst, England, United Kingdom
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Aim
We are fundraising for £15,000 to install solar panels on the roof of New Scotland Hill school - we need help from our wonderful community!
Who are we, and what is our project about?
We are the New Scotland Hill Primary School and Nursery PTA. We support the school by raising funds, building community engagement and providing additional resources that enhance the experience of pupils. Our key objective is to fund equipment, learning resources and enrichment opportunities that cannot be covered through school budgets, which are under increasing pressure. Recent PTA-funded projects include outdoor learning resources, bushcraft equipment, technology to enhance learning and a library refurbishment.
New Scotland Hill Primary School and Nursery is a one-form entry, local authority-maintained primary school in Berkshire with 221 pupils on roll. Our school sits within beautiful grounds bordering heathland in the community of Little Sandhurst. We are a green school and continually look for new ways to lead our community towards a healthier, cleaner and more sustainable future.
We are passionate about reducing our carbon footprint and our impact on the local community and wider environment. Sustainability is embedded throughout school life and reflected in our distinctive outdoor learning approach, which sits at the heart of our curriculum.
We are crowdfunding for £15,000 to help New Scotland Hill Primary School and Nursery take a significant step towards a more sustainable future by installing a 20 KwP solar panel system. ☀️
No pledge is too small and, thanks to the generosity of the Aviva Communities Fund, all donations up to £250 will be matched £1 for £1! 🌱
Like many schools, however, finances remain challenging. Although our funding for the 2026/27 academic year will increase by 1.5%, cost inflation is growing faster which continues to place significant pressure on budgets. As a result, projects such as this remain beyond the reach of school funding alone and require support from the PTA and the wider community.
Why are we crowdfunding?
As a school community, we are passionate about climate action and helping young people understand how they can make a positive difference to the world around them. Through our outdoor learning programme, environmental projects and School Climate Action Plan, sustainability is already woven into the way our children learn and grow.
This project will turn those values into action. By generating our own renewable energy, we can reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, lower carbon emissions and provide a visible example of climate action that inspires pupils, families and the wider community.
The project will reduce the school's electricity consumption from the grid by around 30%, while helping create a greener and more climate-resilient learning environment. It will also generate long-term savings in excess of £175,000 over the next 25-years which will be reinvested in educational opportunities for our pupils.
This project directly supports the Climate Action theme of the Aviva Communities Fund, by helping our community prevent, prepare for and adapt to the impacts of climate change; through renewable energy, environmental education and greener community spaces.
How you can help
There are three simple ways to get involved and support our project:
1. Make a donation (which will be matched £1 for £1* by the amazing Aviva Communities Fund) ☀️
Every pledge gets us closer to our goal. Early support helps build momentum and encourages others to contribute.
*up to £250 per donation, per individual donor
2. Add Gift Aid to your donation at checkout 🌱
Simply click YES when making your donation and an additional 25% will be added through Gift Aid at no extra cost to you. This could boost every £10,000 raised to £12,500!
3. Spread the word!
Share our project with friends, grandparents, family and your wider network, including your employer. The more people we reach, the more likely we are to achieve our target.
If you'd like to get involved in any other capacity with the project, we'd love to hear from you. Please get in touch through the "Contact" section using the subject line "I want to volunteer my time or expertise" on our project page.
How we'll spend the money raised
£11,000 – Solar panels and all required hardware
£3,000 – Installation, testing and commissioning
£1,000 – Surveys, project management and contingency
Total project cost: £15,000
Thanks to the Aviva Communities Fund, donations of up to £250 will be matched pound for pound, helping every contribution go even further.
If you add Gift Aid to your donation, the value of your contribution will increase by a further 25% through HMRC, at no extra cost to you.
If we raise more than £15,000, Aviva Communities Fund may match donations up to £50,000 in total. This could enable the school to install a larger solar array and potentially explore cooling solutions for classrooms powered by the solar energy generated on site, creating a highly sustainable circular solution.
Together, we can help New Scotland Hill run on sunshine and create a cleaner, greener future for generations of children to come. ☀️🌱
Why this project makes sense for New Scotland Hill
We encourage our pupils to believe they can make a difference to the future of our planet. Making the best use of our school grounds, creating engaging outdoor learning spaces and providing green environments for children to learn and play has been a key School Development Priority for the past six years.
Expanding these opportunities while linking them to environmental education and the development of life skills remains a priority for our school.
Our school has received recognition for its environmental initiatives. In 2021, we were recognised as a Persil Dirt Is Good pilot school, followed by a WWF Schools for Nature award in 2022 and a Woodland Trust Green Tree Gold Award in 2024. We also help fund and install a fabulous outdoor classroom space for our children in the same year, which is used year-round in all weathers and seasons!
We are committed to inspiring greener choices and providing experiences that equip young people with skills for life. Through a love of learning and the outdoors, we nurture curiosity about the wider world and our place within it.
We want to make our solar dream a reality and believe that our campaign slogan, "Let The Sun Shine On NSH", perfectly reflects our goal: reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and using energy from the sun to power our school.
Making an impact together
This project aligns perfectly with the ethos of our school. We hope to lead by example for our pupils, families and local communities by demonstrating how renewable energy can be used to reduce environmental impact. We teach our children that individual actions matter and that thoughtful choices can have a positive effect on the environment.
Our school is determined to reduce its contribution to climate change. Through our School Climate Action Plan, we have identified that around 10% of our carbon footprint comes from electricity consumption, equivalent to approximately 10 tonnes of CO₂ each year.
The school currently consumes around 55,000 kWh of electricity annually and already performs within the leading quartile of comparable primary schools as a result of energy-efficiency measures introduced in recent years, including LED lighting. Even so, annual energy costs remain around £13,000 and have continued to rise due to sustained pressure on global energy prices.
We want to run NSH on sunshine!
Solar panels convert freely available sunlight into electricity that can power our school. This energy is clean, renewable and produces no direct greenhouse gas emissions. By reducing dependence on fossil fuels, solar energy can play an important role in tackling climate change.
The challenge is the upfront cost. While our school budget cannot stretch to fund a solar installation, the long-term benefits are substantial.
The roof of our school has been assessed and confirmed as suitable for solar panels, and we believe a 20 kWp array is the optimum size for our needs. The only barrier to delivering this project is funding.
As previously mentioned, the proposed installation would reduce the school's grid electricity consumption by around 30% and deliver estimated savings of approximately £4,000 in the first year alone.
The solar panels are expected to have a lifespan of around 25 years, serving current and future generations of pupils well into the 2050s. Over their lifetime, this project will generate savings of approximately £175,000, enabling significant reinvestment into educational resources and opportunities for children.
By using renewable energy, we can create a greener learning environment for today's pupils and for generations to come.
Once installed, the solar panels will also provide a practical educational resource, helping pupils and their families better understand sustainability and renewable energy. We believe in leading by example and hope that this project will help inspire broader environmental awareness across Little Sandhurst, Sandhurst, Crowthorne and beyond.
Recent heatwaves have also highlighted the need for improved cooling solutions within the school environment. This appeal also aims to build the the foundations for future improvements that could help reduce heat gain in classrooms and improve comfort for pupils and staff for years to come (e.g. Air Conditioning powered by green solar energy).
Please support us in raising the funds needed to install solar panels and provide natural cooling and shading solutions for our school. We hope to attract support from parents, local businesses and others who share our passion for the environment and for "Let The Sun Shine On NSH".
Clean energy for a bright future: something our school wants for every pupil who shares our journey at New Scotland Hill, now and for generations to come. 🌱☀️
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 15th October 2026 at 12:36pm