Northern Ireland schools urged to dress warmly as energy bills set to surge by £8m

Schools across Northern Ireland have been advised to dress more warmly rather than turn up the heating, as the Education Authority warns that its energy costs are on course to climb by around £8m by March 2027.

In a letter sent to head teachers, the EA asked staff and pupils to "wear more clothes" if classrooms become cold, and called on schools to cut their use of heating and lighting "wherever possible" in a bid to keep spending under control.

The authority said the pressure on budgets is expected to be substantial. Recent geopolitical events, it warned, are likely to weigh heavily on energy prices throughout the 2026/27 financial year, with schools among the institutions most exposed to the fallout.

The scale of the increase is significant. Total gas bills for schools are projected to jump by 60%, rising from £10.7m to £17m by March 2027. Electricity costs are also expected to climb, though by a smaller margin, going from £23.8m to £25.1m — an increase of about 5% over the same period.

Combined, the two pressures amount to roughly £8m more that schools will have to find from already stretched budgets. The EA has told head teachers that the rising costs will feed directly into school energy bills, potentially diverting money from teaching resources, staffing and pupil support.

Rising energy prices are not a problem confined to the school gate. Households across Northern Ireland are already feeling the effect of higher gas and electricity charges, and the education sector is now bracing for a similar squeeze. The article cited the US-Israel war with Iran as one of the factors behind the increase, illustrating how events thousands of miles away can translate into higher costs for a primary school in Craigavon or Dunmurry.

Against that backdrop, the EA has set out a series of practical steps it believes could help trim consumption. Among them are reducing heating use by an hour a day, and switching off classroom lights so that lessons can instead be taught by natural daylight.

Perhaps the most eye-catching suggestion, however, is the instruction to put on an extra jumper rather than reach for the thermostat. The EA has advised staff and pupils to layer up in cold weather rather than raising the temperature, framing energy saving as a shared responsibility between schools, teachers and children.

Yet principals have been quick to point out that cutting energy use is far easier said than done. Many have told BBC News NI that the physical condition and layout of their buildings place hard limits on how much they can realistically save.

Kirsty Logan-Hall, principal of Tullygally Primary School in Craigavon, said her school was "committed to promoting responsible energy consumption and regularly reinforce good practice with staff and pupils". But she stressed that the ambition to reduce usage runs up against the reality of the buildings themselves.

Tullygally operates from an older property, which Logan-Hall said presents "inherent energy efficiency challenges". Older schools often lack the insulation, double glazing and modern boiler systems found in newer builds, meaning heat escapes more quickly and more fuel is needed to keep rooms at a workable temperature.

The problem is compounded by the school's layout. Logan-Hall explained that the site is "particularly spread out" because of the accommodation and operational needs of its specialist provision, requiring heating, lighting and the use of multiple areas across the site throughout the day.

That, she said, is necessary to maintain appropriate learning environments, ensure accessibility and protect pupil welfare. Her conclusion was blunt: there is "limited scope" for reducing energy consumption without damaging the quality of provision, staff working conditions or the wellbeing of pupils, including those with additional needs.

Her remarks highlight a difficult tension at the heart of the EA's appeal. Energy savings that look straightforward on paper can be unachievable in practice, particularly for schools serving children whose needs depend on warm, well-lit and reliably heated spaces.

A second principal offered a different, but equally cautionary, perspective. Claire Robinson of Holy Evangelists Primary School in Dunmurry described energy costs as "ferocious", and said her school simply cannot afford to experiment with its heating arrangements.

Parts of her school are relatively new and are warmed by underfloor heating — a system that is efficient to run once it is up to temperature, but slow to respond if it is switched off. Robinson said classrooms cannot be allowed to drop below a certain temperature, which means the heating has to stay on.

"We can't just turn the heating off in some areas of the school," she said, underscoring the practical limits of across-the-board cuts. In a building where heating is effectively a fixed requirement, the savings the EA is seeking may be hard to deliver.

Robinson also revealed that, despite being comparatively modern, her school has been given an energy efficiency rating of D — a reflection of the cost involved in running its heating system — suggesting that even newer estates are not automatically cheaper to operate.

Taken together, the warnings from Tullygally and Holy Evangelists point to a wider question facing Northern Ireland's education system: who ultimately absorbs the cost when energy prices surge. Schools can encourage jumper-wearing and daylight learning, but the biggest savings may require investment in insulation, glazing and heating systems that many sites simply do not have.

For now, the EA's message to schools is one of careful conservation. But with gas bills forecast to rise by more than half and households already under pressure, principals are signalling that pupils and staff may be asked to wear extra layers long before the weather — or the energy market — improves.

The article was written by Robbie Meredith, education and arts correspondent for BBC News NI, who has reported on how the cost of living is affecting schools and families across Northern Ireland.