Sonning Common Primary School has received funding from the county council for environmentally friendly upgrades.

A near £12,000, interest free loan from Oxfordshire County Council will be used by the school to fit solar panels.

The council began running the schools energy efficiency loan scheme in July 2023, offering funding from an £800,000 pot to help schools decrease energy usage, subsequently cutting operational costs.

Councillor John Howson, the council's cabinet member for children, education and young people’s services, said: "We’ve already carried out 50 energy efficiency audits on our council maintained schools.

"The latest round of the loan scheme was launched earlier this year, with Sonning Common Primary School being the second to make use of the fund, after Nettlebed Community School."

The school hopes to install the photovoltaic technology during the summer holidays in readiness for the new term in September.

Chris Hirst, headteacher at Sonning Common Primary School, added: "We are thrilled to be able to add to our existing solar photovoltaic array.

"This most recent addition will help us to reduce our carbon footprint even more and will help us on our journey to become net carbon zero.

"We are proud to be playing our part and hope that other schools will follow to install renewable technologies."

Other schools are applying for energy efficiency loans and details of their plans will be released in the coming months.