At Aspire, we understand we have a responsibility to practice what we preach: we encourage our pupils to become environmentally aware and responsible. This means we also have to adopt measures and policies that turn rhetoric into action.

When we came to our new building in 2014 we put in place a number of measures that help ensure our consumption of valuable resources is as low as possible. Because of Paphos’ climate, most of our efforts are focussed keeping the building cool with the minimum energy consumption:

• We dug our own wells which supply grey water for watering and maintaining our two thousand square metres of grass, hedges and trees. This ensures the island’s valuable potable water is used only for drinking
• We installed photovoltaic cells on the roof to take advantage of the climate and passively generate our own electricity
• We have solar powered water heating systems throughout the school
• All windows and doors have double-glazing with tints and high thermal properties
• The walls have a thick thermal insulation layer which also helps limit energy consumption
• We have passive shading devices on the sun-facing elevation which protects the building without consuming any energy
• We have planted over 100 trees on the property which will provide natural shade in the years to come

In addition, we have a number of policies and practices that help ensure the school day operates in increasingly sustainable ways:

• Recycling ‘bins’ which ensure paper waste, plastics, cans and other recyclables are separated

• State of the art digital technology and platforms ensure that resources and information can be instantly shared without wasteful printing

These policies are constantly under review and new ‘good ideas’ from our PTA, pupils and staff are welcomed.