Contacting a school and running a great assembly
One great way to promote Run on Sun locally is to work with schools
directly and tell them the options available to them. It’s also an opportunity
to engage with children to help them understand the benefits of solar and
the importance of clean energy. Here are some tips of how to form
partnerships with schools near you.
How to get in touch with a local school
1. Choose your school
 Do you have any links with schools within your group –
children/ grandchildren at a school, any school staff in the
group or with links to the group? (If not, that’s fine too – most
schools will be happy to hear from you).
 You can find out if there are any schools near you that have
signed up for a Run on Sun info pack by contacting
solarinfo@foe.co.uk or calling 020 7566 1638.
 What’s the school building like? Does it have a south-facing
(or a south-west/ south-east facing) roof or wall that could be
used for solar panels?
 Is it a local authority school? Academy or free schools have
different regulations so it’s best to get in touch with us at
solarinfo@foe.co.uk to find out more.
2. Contact the school
 If you have links already, go through them.
 If you’re going in cold, call the school reception, explain who
you are and what you’re doing and find who you need to
speak to (most likely the Head but it could be a Deputy or
designated teaching staff).
3. When you get through to the decision maker:
 Introduce yourself and the local group.
 Explain what Run on Sun is and briefly the benefits to
schools from solar power. This guide contains some info that
might be helpful for this:
http://forum.foe.co.uk/campaignhubs/index.php?action=medi
a;sa=item;in=1501
 You could let them know about the schools info pack that
they can order for more general information about their
options:
http://www.foe.co.uk/get_involved/climate_change/solarpack
 If you know they’ve already signed up for a Run on Sun
pack, you can remind them of this and ask them about how
they’re getting on with investigating getting solar. You could
also offer to go in and give a talk to them and to the children
or run an assembly about Run on Sun.
Ted’s top tips on how to give a great assembly
Some of these may seem obvious - and you may
have group members with loads of experience
talking to children – but as an ex-primary school
Plan for your assembly
Assemblies are usually 15 minutes. They can be a bit longer when there’s visitors
but you need to check how long you’ve got first and stick to that as best you can.
Objectives of assemblies
1. Teach children what solar is and why it would be a good thing for their school
2. Tell schools about the Run on Sun and give them ideas about how to get involved
Outline
1. Introduce yourselves and summarise briefly what you do - 1 min
2. What’s solar? – discussion with the children on what they know about solar power 4 mins.
Some prompt questions could be:
– What do you know about solar power?
– Does anyone know what solar power is used for?
– What do you think about solar power?
It might also be worth explaining a bit about how solar energy is clean energy and
doesn’t pollute like some other types of energy that we use.
3. Why is solar good and what would solar do for this school quick discussion on
the benefits of solar power:
- is solar power a good thing?
- Why is it good?
- Could it help our school? How?
(save money, teach the children about clean energy, cut down school’s emissions/
pollution) – 2 mins
4. Activity – making a solar robot – invite volunteers to the front to act as suns, solar
panels and a solar robot. 2 children wear sun costumes, 1 or more wears solar panel
costume, one poses as robot. Sun shines on the panels to make the robot move – 5
mins
5. Questions to you from the children
6. Say thank you and ‘bye
Detailed assembly script
Here are some suggestions for how an assembly script might go. It’s
only a basic guide – so you may well want to embellish it or jazz it up by
adding some sunny songs (like Here comes the Sun by the Beatles) if
there is a music system available!
1) Introductions
Hello everybody, my name’s xxxxxx and I’m from a group called xxx Friends of
the Earth.
We try to make environment better for everyone – in the local area around [xxx
place], across the country and even around the world.
For example we want to make the place we live in cleaner and the air less
polluted, and we try to help creatures who are in danger like bees.
2) (If you’re wearing a Run on Sun costume) You might be wondering why we’ve
dressed up in these sun costumes.
Well, today we’re here to talk to you about something that’s absolutely amazing:
solar power!
Here’s one amazing fact about the sun: more energy reaches the Earth from
the sun in two hours than all the people in the world use in a year.
Questions:
 Can anyone tell me anything you know about solar power?
If you need to tease out more:
 Does anyone know what solar power is used for?
3) Why is solar good and what would solar do for this school quick discussion
on the benefits of solar power:
- is solar power a good thing?
- Why is it good?
- Could it help our school? How?
Explain that solar power can actually make money for your school. You don’t
have to pay for the electricity you make like you do normally. And you can earn
extra money for every bit of energy you make. So as well as being really good for
the environment as they cut down on pollution, they also make you money for
your school so you’ve got more to spend on books, computers, school trips and
so on.
4) Activity – making a solar robot We’re going to do an activity now and I’m going
to need some volunteers. I need one child to come up and be the sun. [choose
someone from the upper school since costumes are big. Invite them to the front
and help them put the costume on]. So we’ve got the sun here shining down on a
nice sunny day, with all its energy going to waste.
Now we’re going to need a robot [choose someone from opposite gender from
the sun and ask to stand still, next to the sun in a robot pose]. This poor robot
can’t move – it needs electricity to make it work. What do you think we need to
make it move?
That’s right, we need some solar panels! [choose one or more children (mix of
boy/ girl and ethnicity if in a multicultural school) to come and wear a solar panel
costume(s) and stand in between the sun and the robot. Note – if you haven’t
been able to borrow or make a solar panel costume, the children could just
pretend to be panels by spreading out their arms and facing the sun].
Now the sun’s energy isn’t going to waste anymore – this solar panel is turning it
into electricity. And if we watch carefully we may be able to see the robot start to
move. Just think of all the amazing things you could do with solar power – and
the electricity is good for the environment and can save your school money!
[encourage the robot to start moving, and then give them all a big clap]
6) we’re helping schools everywhere to run on sun and we can help your school to do
this. You could take in some petition cards (which can be ordered here:
http://www.foe.co.uk/get_involved/climate_change/run-on-sun-materials-order-form)
in, so that the children and their parents can to find out more about the campaign and
how to support it.
7) Find out if anyone has any questions and do your best to answer them! If you don’t
know the answers, you can pass the questions on to us at solarinfo@foe.co.uk
8) Thank the children for being excellent listeners and say ‘bye.
Permission guidance for photographs:
It would be great if you could take a few pics at the assembly or at the school to share with
us, but if you do this, there are a few things to consider first. Please have a read of our
safeguarding guidance for working with children in schools and find out how to get
permissions for photos:
http://forum.foe.co.uk/campaignhubs/index.php?action=media;sa=item;in=1517
Resources to take to schools
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Order a Run on Sun costume at www.foe.co.uk/runonsuncostumes - they’re great for
assemblies and school visits and the children love them (see below!)
We also have a few home-made solar panel costumes – write to solarinfo@foe.co.uk
to ask about borrowing these
Children’s fun facts posters – you will have been sent 50 of these posters so make
sure you take some along for the children. One for each class or enough for one
each for a whole class.
Count me in postcards (these can also be ordered here
http://www.foe.co.uk/get_involved/climate_change/run-on-sun-materials-order-form)
Check out our guide to working with a school community to help support a school
longer-term on their journey to running on sun:
http://forum.foe.co.uk/campaignhubs/index.php?action=media;sa=item;in=1520
You can also get involved with the Friends of the Earth Youth and Education Network1 and find out
more here: http://www.foe.co.uk/community/campaigns/young_people
1
The Youth and Education Network is a group of volunteers that exists to enable Friends of the Earth local
group members and supporters who want to work with young people to do so effectively and safely.
Interested people can join, take child protection training, sign up for training events and find resources to use.
Members are kept up to date with news on what Friends of the Earth is doing with young people.
Many volunteer members for the Youth and Education Network go into schools and youth clubs to run
sessions. If you are a teacher or youth leader you can request a visit by emailing education@foe.co.uk. Schools
can also sign up on the join page to receive new resources and news about ways we could help you.