Brabins Endowed School is one of just 56 schools in England to win the grant, awarded by the National College for School Leadership.

Brabins was presented with its Eco-Schools flag in September and has a proactive eco-committee which attracts support from parents, governors and local environmentalists. It also has a well-established recycling programme that reduces its waste disposal costs and the amount of general waste being taken away to landfill sites.

Little money is spent on purchasing local authority refuse sacks and the school generates an income from some of its projects, which is used to maintain classroom support. The school is presently investigating the introduction of solar energy to further reduce electricity bills.

Brabins, which has links with a Canadian school, is closely studying its counterparts' sustainable school policy and the initiatives it has in place to conserve energy.

Toby Greany, NCSL's Operational Director of Research and Policy, said: "We have been extremely impressed with the number and the standard of applications we received from schools bidding for the grants. Its really shows the effort which schools are starting to put in to sustainability. This commitment is great news and shows that the scale of the problem is recognised among school leaders, we look forward to them assisting us with our research.

"We remain dedicated to supporting heads to be sustainable and hope that these grants go some way towards helping them achieve this. It seems likely that the government will expect schools to achieve significant reductions in carbon emissions in coming years, so the issue is becoming increasingly important. Our ultimate aim at NCSL is to support school leaders to explore and share effective practise in this critical area."