KEY POINTS:
Bayswater Primary's environmental programmes will get a new ray of light shed on them with the promise of solar panels for the roof of the school's main classroom block.
The small North Shore school - with a roll of 150 pupils - is one of three just selected for the next phase of a project that gives students hands-on experience with renewable energy.
One aim is to show how it can help to combat global warming.
The other newly selected schools were Henderson Valley Primary and Glendowie College.
Bayswater Primary principal Christine Heney said students were thrilled by the scheme.
The whole school would study electricity next term as a special project, she said.
"It's going to be an opportunity for the kids to learn about what solar panels can do, how they operate, why it's worthwhile having them, any savings they can make us," said Mrs Heney.
"They'll be doing comparisons between our old energy usage."
It is the second year of the SchoolGen project.
It was conceived by Genesis Energy with input from school resources professionals and is part-funded by the Ministry for the Environment.
Issues of sustainability are increasingly important to schools as the new curriculum - unveiled last year and being phased in between now and 2010 - signals the importance of helping students think about the long-term impact of social, environmental and economic practices.
Last year, panels were installed under the project at Tirimoana Primary, Westlake Girls High School, Pakuranga College, Northcote College, Silverdale Primary and Greenhithe Primary. Tirimoana Primary principal Peter Kaiser said it set an example to students and the community of what could be done.
A screen in the school library showing how much energy the panels generated from the sun was watched by many students and specifically monitored by a specific group of pupils.
"We haven't done a cost analysis yet of what savings we have made," said Mr Kaiser. "We expect that it would demonstrate savings. It's not a simple task because our actual energy use is increasing because we've bought more computers and things like that."
SCHOOLGEN
* Has just selected three more Auckland schools to get solar panels
* Will start in Waikato schools soon
* Is set to install solar panels at a total of 56 schools over the next three years
