Students and staff at Falmouth School were left blown away when their very own 20ft turbine was raised in front of their eyes yesterday.

The school can now generate its own electricity for new design and technology block, which was designed by a team of students, who were in year nine when the project began.

The school hopes that as well as its practical use, the white turbine – that is more sculptural than the conventional three pronged kind, with its twisted blades – will also become a landmark to encourage more people in Falmouth to “go green.”

Head teacher Sandra Critchley said: “We are incredibly excited to be raising our wind turbine and very proud of our pupils. This is the culmination of a long project to refurbish and extend our design and technology block in a sustainable way.

“It was an entirely student-led project and they were committed to having a wind turbine throughout. When the project costs had to be cut the students were adamant the wind turbine would remain, which meant cutting out the staff room instead!

“It will be a landmark feature on an approach road to Falmouth. As people drive past our school they will know the young people of Falmouth are committed to ensuring a reduction in carbon emissions.”

Every year the turbine is expected to generate up to 7,700 units of electricity and save more than three tonnes of carbon dioxide. Inside the school a live display board will show pupils how much electricity they are generating and the carbon dioxide being offset.

The £43,475 cost of the project was covered by a £28,881 grant from the EDF Energy Green Fund and £14,594 from the Government’s Low Carbon Buildings Programme. The wind turbine was installed by Quiet Revolution.

The school plans to add solar panels and a ground source heat pump at a later date.

Mrs Critchley said: “Young people are the adults of tomorrow and we need to help them understand the problems that exist in the world today and the solutions currently available. As the engineers of the future we need to open their minds to the fact that they may hold the key to solutions nobody has thought of yet.”