Should schools in the UK be fitted with air conditioning?

[Bletchleyite]

One of my colleagues actually has a cooling capable installation using an air-to-water heat pump.

It apparently works quite well, apart from the issues with condensate.

Presumably it has matrices instead of traditional radiators and a fan to blow air over the cold matrix? That's basically how some hotel systems work.

Water to radiator won't work very well though (it might be nice if you can lean on one, though). The problem being that a cold radiator doesn't convect in the same way a warm one does. (Radiators are a misnomer, they mostly heat through convection, not radiation).

Actually, almost tempted to dump my radiator water and replace it with fresh, that would be cool to lean against for a short while

 

[jupiter]

Our local village school was taken over by an academy about 8 years ago. There was little choice. The local council was a shell of its former self. It went from having some money to do elective things, to having no money for elective things.

Meanwhile at the HQ offices of the Academy Trust there were some very nice cars in the car park.

 

[jon0844]

How often do you think a typical school has to close for this reason?

Agreed.

It's fair to say most schools took a common sense approach this week, closing early and some schools (sadly not mine) allowing kids to stay at school after closing to allow parents to collect at the normal time.

As discussed above, it isn't so common that such closures for a few days becomes a big problem - but it's only June and if there are more days in July (until end of term) then it will be a bigger issue.

Sadly, there are sections of the press and columnists (probably sitting on a beach or an air conditioned office) that have used this heatwave to attack teachers by claiming they just don't want to teach, and why should they be paid if the schools are closing early? Kids have been called weak for not being able to withstand some heat, implying that kids elsewhere in the world cope so why not them?

I also think that as time goes on, these events will become more commonplace and perhaps start happening earlier in the year.. and then it impacts people doing revision and taking exams. Then it becomes a serious issue that needs to be addressed.

But I am not sure how it would best be done.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I also think that as time goes on, these events will become more commonplace and perhaps start happening earlier in the year.. and then it impacts people doing revision and taking exams. Then it becomes a serious issue that needs to be addressed.

But I am not sure how it would best be done.

One way would be to shift the summer holidays earlier. If it's the last 2 weeks of June and the bulk of July that is more likely to be a problem than late August by which it's often started being autumnal, shift it to then.

 

[TravelDream]

£10K?? And the rest...

Depends on what's done.
£10k might be enough for some reflective film on windows or some awnings on the south facing windows. Clearly you're not going to do much with it though.

In terms of AC, Google tells me a HVAC system costs £60-£120 per sq. metre. Google, again, tells me the average UK school is 3600 sq. metres so you're easily talking half a million for the average school. Probably a lot more as basically no schools were designed with HVAC in mind so would need more significant work.
There are, of course, cheaper options like window style AC units which might come in at a couple of grand per classroom although these are a lot less efficient overall.

 

[Sorcerer]

Sadly, there are sections of the press and columnists (probably sitting on a beach or an air conditioned office) that have used this heatwave to attack teachers by claiming they just don't want to teach, and why should they be paid if the schools are closing early? Kids have been called weak for not being able to withstand some heat, implying that kids elsewhere in the world cope so why not them?

Something something it's called summer, something something 1976, something something we just enjoyed a Solero and got on with.

 

[Dave W]

Our local village school was taken over by an academy about 8 years ago. There was little choice. The local council was a shell of its former self. It went from having some money to do elective things, to having no money for elective things.

Meanwhile at the HQ offices of the Academy Trust there were some very nice cars in the car park.

I have some very outspoken views on the scourge of academisation and all that it has done to the education sector so it is fair to say I am not an unbiased observer! But the first and foremost is the absolutely mental obsession with cost and value-for-money led operations. Should schools be given a free rein to spend what they want to teach our children? No, of course not. But should every single thing be brutally cost-benefit assessed in a school and slashed if not deemed valuable? Also no.

A/C is a great example of what might have been seen as a worthwhile and long term investment in the performance of the school (if provided through capital funding, certainly) - the chances of a decision being taken like that and affecting the bottom line in an academy are even slimmer.

 

[Bletchleyite]

A good start would be that all new school buildings are required to have both aircon and solar to power it from day one.

 

[speedy1]

£10K?? And the rest...

Yeah I was thinking of an absolute, absolute minimum like one small room with AC or a bit of paint on the hottest building roof etc. I guess in reality £100k would be the floor of any slightly meaningful works at a tiny school?

Of course a national programme of works would most definitely need 1,000 page reports, consultants, many layers of subcontractors, lawyers and so on...4-5x'ing any cost .. !

 

[Dave W]

Yeah I was thinking of an absolute, absolute minimum like one small room with AC or a bit of paint on the hottest building roof etc. I guess in reality £100k would be the floor of any slightly meaningful works at a tiny school?

Of course a national programme of works would most definitely need 1,000 page reports, consultants, many layers of subcontractors, lawyers and so on...4-5x'ing any cost .. !

Your cynicism is absolutely well placed! But such a programme is the only way the funding would happen.

 

[The exile]

Sadly, there are sections of the press and columnists (probably sitting on a beach or an air conditioned office) that have used this heatwave to attack teachers by claiming they just don't want to teach, and why should they be paid if the schools are closing early? Kids have been called weak for not being able to withstand some heat, implying that kids elsewhere in the world cope so why not them?

Presumably they mean like Germany with its legally binding max. Temperature (or the school closes). The urban myth amongst pupils is that the thermometer is always placed on the bare floor of a damp room in the cellar.

 

[Horizon22]

Of course schools should - just like hospitals and GP surgeries and trains should - but someone is going to have to pay for it. And it will be taxpayers, which is fine but it's another part of the budget for which more money will ned to be found. Some infrastructure in schools is crumbling generally too.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Of course schools should - just like hospitals and GP surgeries and trains should - but someone is going to have to pay for it. And it will be taxpayers, which is fine but it's another part of the budget for which more money will ned to be found. Some infrastructure in schools is crumbling generally too.

As it's a large one off cost it strikes me as something that might be suitable for some sort of windfall tax as funding.

 

[D1537]

Our local village school was taken over by an academy about 8 years ago. There was little choice. The local council was a shell of its former self. It went from having some money to do elective things, to having no money for elective things.

Meanwhile at the HQ offices of the Academy Trust there were some very nice cars in the car park.

If I told you some of the ways that the first Trust I worked under effectively stole money from the schools it ran (can you say "outrageous salaries for admin assistants that happen to be related to the trust directors" or "fact finding trips to foreign locations that are also holiday resorts"), you would either be unsurprised or horrified depending on your knowledge of how many Trusts were run in the 2000s and 2010s.

 

[Horizon22]

As it's a large one off cost it strikes me as something that might be suitable for some sort of windfall tax as funding.

Problem is that "windfall tax" is probably being suggested for 4 or 5 things now!

 

[jon0844]

Of course schools should - just like hospitals and GP surgeries and trains should - but someone is going to have to pay for it. And it will be taxpayers, which is fine but it's another part of the budget for which more money will ned to be found. Some infrastructure in schools is crumbling generally too.

Money spent on infrastructure projects is usually a good thing. It can put money into the local economies as workers get paid, pay taxes, then likely spends the money they earned - as against a big corporation that sends the money to goodness knows where. If we can source materials locally, all the better (not that I know if we have any firms making air conditioning equipment in the UK as against China, south Korea etc)?

I am not sure how it could be done, but at the very least it would likely be down to local authorities to manage their schools rather than nationally.

However, the cynic in me just knows that some MP's sister-in-law or cousin would be setting up a company tomorrow, then winning a multi-million pound contract next week.

 

[HSTEd]

A lot of school buildings will need replacing, on the other hand pupil numbers are falling ~1% per annum.

So we should probably pick the buildings in each area in the best of conditions to be fitted with air conditioning first, and proceed as buildings containing things like RAAC are demolished in the face of falling numbers.

I don't think windfall taxes are a practical way to pay for such a programme, and in any case we have windfall taxes almost every year at this point, so they aren't really windfalls any more - its just a way for the government to lie about tax rates.

 

[Huntergreed]

We moved into a new school building 3 weeks ago - only 3 of the approx 45 classrooms are fitted with air conditioning.

My classroom today was 27.5 degrees when I checked, I’m aware of some staff on the top floor whose readings were in excess of 30. Complaints have been coming in from staff, pupils and parents.

We had a prizegiving ceremony recently, and some parents had to walk out due to the heat - it’s feels like a massive oversight given the expected long term impact of climate change!!

 

[Bayum]

Is this news to you? It's where we are, they do it to try to protect other expenditure.

Back to cooling schools: It's not just [expensive and potentially unreliable] air con needed, a quick and relatively easy fix is to install awnings. They need only the simplest fixing skills and stop the sun's heat reaching the walls and windows. After that, reducing physical activity and ensuring people keep hydrated might be enough to manage the situation in lots of places during the current high air temperatures. (Preventing solar gain is a smart intervention though as it heads off a lot of the problem. We have stretched sheets over windows before now, it works a treat.)

We’re in a listed Victorian school building… so no awnings for us.

I have air-con in my classroom, thankfully, and it’s been so pleasant. We’ve cycled some classes in at various points.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 25 Jun 2026 ==

Nearly every school has air-conditioning - but only for the network and server rooms, and usually for dedicated computing classrooms.

Teachers of Computer Science often become very popular in a heatwave!

What is a server room? We have a cupboard in the corridor…

 

[The exile]

If we can source materials locally, all the better (not that I know if we have any firms making air conditioning equipment in the UK as against China, south Korea etc)?

With an order book the size of every school in the UK heavily favouring minimising finished product miles, there soon could be!

 

[D1537]

We’re in a listed Victorian school building… so no awnings for us.

I have air-con in my classroom, thankfully, and it’s been so pleasant. We’ve cycled some classes in at various points.

What is a server room? We have a cupboard in the corridor…

Yes, at my last school the servers were in a cupboard in my classroom, thus benefiting from my aircon...

 

[AndrewE]

We’re in a listed Victorian school building… so no awnings for us.

I am sure that common sense would prevail and some sort of a sensible solution could be found.

If not, invite the bureaucrats in charge of the decisions to relocate into the hottest least-well-ventilated rooms and see if they change their minds...

 

[To the trains]

In the the ideal world we don't inhabit, yes (the schools I went to wre absolutely baking every summer, even when it wasn't crazy hot), but with schools unable to afford glue sticks, I think it will be difficult.

That said, I echo the anti-academy sentiment. My school was the last one in the area to be captured by a trust shortly after I joined and they've all been slowly but surely eroded into corporate, soulless places (and I chose the one I did precisely because it hadn't been).

My school was the pity school that never had money for anything, we were grateful to be dumped with the rubbish old computers from the other schools and we didn't even have the resources to teach triple science, we all had to do combined.

The other schools always had an infinite money tree for stupid, unnecessary things like replacing all the chairs in the school to be the school colour when the old ones weren't that old and were fine, but never any money for things that were of use to anyone.
I (and others) also have colourful things to say about one person who's very high up in the trust, in particular her attitudes towards SEND (special educational needs and disabilities). Glad I finished before the final nail in the coffin for that place.
Back on topic now!

We’re in a listed Victorian school building… so no awnings for us.

Surely they could bolt on some retractable fabric awnings as a mitigation that's relatively cheap and easy to put in, but still makes a difference. I suppose whatever height they're at someone will find a way to draw a cock and balls on it, with it being a school. It also wouldn't block the sun out like a permanent awning would in winter when you want the sun to heat the room.

 

[The exile]

Surely they could bolt on some retractable fabric awnings as a mitigation that's relatively cheap and easy to put in, but still makes a difference. I suppose whatever height they're at someone will find a way to draw a cock and balls on it, with it being a school. It also wouldn't block the sun out like a permanent awning would in winter when you want the sun to heat the room

Would still need listed building consent (not saying it wouldn’t or shouldn’t be granted)

 

[AndrewE]

Would still need listed building consent (not saying it wouldn’t or shouldn’t be granted)

but if you don't ask, you certainly won't get! It would be a brave bureaucrat who tried to refuse it in the current climate (!)

 

[Bletchleyite]

That said, I echo the anti-academy sentiment. My school was the last one in the area to be captured by a trust shortly after I joined and they've all been slowly but surely eroded into corporate, soulless places (and I chose the one I did precisely because it hadn't been).

Interesting you say that, as while I too oppose academisation (bit late now though) the impression I have is that an obvious consequence of it has been a bit of "Harry Potter-isation" with increasingly esoteric traditional formal uniforms rather than the more basic polo shirt and trousers which had become common up to the 2010s.

 

[D1537]

Interesting you say that, as while I too oppose academisation (bit late now though) the impression I have is that an obvious consequence of it has been a bit of "Harry Potter-isation" with increasingly esoteric traditional formal uniforms rather than the more basic polo shirt and trousers which had become common up to the 2010s.

That's because trusts can make more money out of selling blazers, ties and other branded gear such as PE kits.

 

[To the trains]

Would still need listed building consent (not saying it wouldn’t or shouldn’t be granted)

You sure would but it's going to be far easier to get than for some kind of fixed awning. Not a problem for the 1960s cube I went to!

 

[The exile]

but if you don't ask, you certainly won't get! It would be a brave bureaucrat who tried to refuse it in the current climate (!)

True - though it would probably be November by the time the application came up!

 

[To the trains]

Interesting you say that, as while I too oppose academisation (bit late now though) the impression I have is that an obvious consequence of it has been a bit of "Harry Potter-isation" with increasingly esoteric traditional formal uniforms rather than the more basic polo shirt and trousers which had become common up to the 2010s.

Part of the corporateness the way they always like gimmicky things like making the uniform more Harry Potter-esque, for example, and creating different ties and PE kits for each house (the ties for lower schoolers at my 6th form had hideous combinations of colours as a result).

They're also obsessed with everyone doing things in exact ways like introducing new pen colours for no clear reason for certain purposes and lots of acronyms for things like behaviour, responding to marking and the school values, blah blah blah.

That's enough off-topic ranting for here, any further discussion of the (de)merits of academies probably warrants a new thread.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 26 Jun 2026 ==

Not much good for a listed building, but I don't know why shutters aren't especially commonplace on British buildings. Many places on the continent, including places with just about the same climate as the UK (such as northern France) have shutters on windows - they keep the elements out generally, not just heat. Older buildings usually have hinged shutters and newer ones tend to be metal ones that roll down (usually with a windy stick or a button or even a remote control on a fancier building). Either way they do a pretty good job at keeping heat out