Work with your Caretaker to change the morning heating start time

You will have many allies in your mission to make your school energy efficient.  One of the most important of these is your school caretaker.  As well as often being the first in into school in the morning and the last to leave, they are often the only ones in the school who know how to work the boiler, heating and hot water controls.

Discuss the best times for the school heating to come on and turn off each day.  Most schools should aim for their heating to come on around 6 am and turn off around 30 minutes before the pupils leave. It is not normally necessary to heat the school for cleaners working in the evenings.

Use this activity to help you analyse your heating timings to see whether your heating is coming on too early or turning off too late. The heating timer should be adjusted so that the school reaches optimum temperature as people begin to arrive, and cools down shortly before people leave.  You can do this slowly by changing the start time gradually every day and checking the response and feedback from teachers and pupils.  Ask pupils and staff whether they feel too hot or cold or just right when they come into school. If they feel hot or comfortable, you could try changing the heating start time some more. 

You could also record classroom temperatures hourly across the day, and then work out whether the heating needs to come on earlier or later.  Perhaps it doesn't need to stay on all day.