UK energy CRISIS

The cost-of-living and energy crisis as a developing issue has created the ability for me to consider this as a potential factor that prevents schools from becoming sustainable. Here are some of the considerations that have to be taken into account regarding the cost-of-living crisis.

The UK energy crisis is a major issue at current times that is affecting everyone up and down the country. Schools have seen a struggle to cope with the cost of energy especially with energy already being up to and over £100,000, with the cost expected to rise further. Below are the direct words written by the business manager of our school over email...

"It is a concern. 

From a practical aspect staff are being asked to be far more conscientious and vigilant regarding lights, projectors being left on, windows being left open etc. We have asked staff to be more accountable for their printing, and for less documentation being printed for meetings. Our governors for example have agreed to no longer receive paper documentation for our meetings and will now receive everything electronically only.

Regarding our energy costs directly when we were creating our budget for this academic year back in April we considered possible worst-case scenarios. As a trust we took guidance and advice from local authorities and we set our budgets accordingly. 

This has meant that school budgets had to remain quite conservative this year, so areas where we had hoped to be able to increase budget such as student rewards have not been able to be increased. We are in quite a fortunate position in that our financial situation is not in dire straits at the moment where I know of some schools who have had to cancel building projects, or reduce planned staffing increases due to the financial restrictions they are facing."

Considering what has been said, it is clear to see that schools in general are facing problems considering the energy crisis especially taking into account news headlines that have been spread throughout the country such as some schools considering only opening 3-4 days a week to cut down on energy costs especially in the winter. As well, some schools have been forced to make the decision of school trip cuts vs staff cuts. Teachers are being asked to wring water from a stone – and school trips are the first things to go | Lola Okolosie | The Guardian (14/09/22)

Kevin Courtney from the NEU, a teachers trade union states that 

"School funding remains lower in real terms than it was in 2010."...

 "Schools will continue to be forced to increase class sizes, cut subject choice, and reduce additional support unless more money is committed." 

This is in terms of energy costs as some have seen bills more than triple in the past months. 

Energy Support for Schools and Colleges | NEU (08/09/22)

This is a reliable source as it has been published by a trade union, which is there to listen and implement schools and teachers rights. It is a new article only being published 1 week ago at time of writing (15/9/22)