A NEW community initiative is raising money to fit solar panels onto the roof of a local school.

Environmental campaigners have got together with staff and governors at Glenaire Primary School in Baildon to help the school cut its electricity bills while also inspiring children to think about renewable energy.

The new charitable trust, known as the Run on Sun Fund, has already raised enough to fit three solar panels - the bare minimum needed for the project to be viable.

But now they hope to scale up the project and make the school a beacon of energy efficiency.

The initiative was the idea of John Anderson, a retired local headteacher and member of Friends of the Earth.

Glyn Turton, a spokesman for the fund and a fellow member of Friends of the Earth, said: “We are delighted to have raised enough money to implement Phase One of our plans, but this is just the first step.

“We now need help to install an array of solar panels that will really put solar power at the heart of the school’s energy supply and will enable it to take other measures that will make Glenaire one of the most energy-efficient schools in Bradford.

“Once the panels are in place, this small school will be a trailblazer.

“All its pupils will be solar educated and it will be a solar beacon for other schools, especially in its Bradford Council ward of Baildon.”

Professor Turton said they hoped to fundraise for around two years in total, before deciding how many panels and other energy-efficiency measures the money would pay for.

He added: “I wouldn’t rule out doing this again with other schools in the area and who knows, we could have a Run on Sun movement on our hands.”

The fund has so far raised more than £7,000, including £5,000 donated by Yorkshire Bank’s charitable foundation, £1,000 donated by high-street cosmetics shop Lush and £1,700 from smaller-scale community donations.

Friends of the Earth has also given the school some funding to enable it to run an accompanying project for the children all about solar power.

Art education organisation Sponge Tree came in to run sun-themed projects with the children.

The school won’t be the first in the district to harness the power of the sun.

In 2013, pupils at Saltaire Primary School switched on a new solar panel system installed on its roof, in the first scheme of its kind within Bradford.

Saltaire Primary had borrowed money from Council coffers to fund the 66 panels, which are hidden in the roof and are invisible from the World Heritage Site.

Anyone wanting to donate to the Run on Sun Fund can visit www.justgiving.com/runonsunfund or email dumelama2000@yahoo.co.uk.