THE hot summer of 2013 has worked well for Flixton Girls School, boosting its eco credentials and generating more power for the pupils.

It had solar panels commissioned during July of this year and has been recording their performance from August onwards.

In the four months since they were fitted, the panels have generated 10,560 kilowatt hours, which equates to £1,100 at current unit costs.

Headteacher Julie Hazeldine said: “Parts of our school are of course, quite old, as the school is currently celebrating its 80th birthday. But our facilities are very modern and we were keen to look at sustainable, natural resources to create energy. A very good summer may have helped us as we collected sunlight and convered it into energy that can be used for electricity. We’ll be looking at other ways of saving energy throughout the school year.”

The average annual usage for a family of four is 5,500 kilowatt hours - meaning that the school has saved more than the annual consumption of two houses, in just four months.