Major capital works upgrades drive green transformation across our schools

We are pleased to announce substantial progress in our multi-school infrastructure overhaul, delivering energy-efficient capital works designed to significantly reduce energy costs and lower carbon emissions across our estate. These initiatives align directly with our overarching Sustainability and Climate Action Plan, embedding environmental sustainability and climate adaptation directly into our school infrastructure.

Throughout the 2025–2026 academic year, we have prioritised comprehensive upgrades to LED lighting across all our schools. Every site now features either full or partial LED lighting, with complete retrofit solutions scheduled across remaining areas by the end of the current academic year.

Because LED technology consumes between 75% and 90% less energy and lasts 25 to 50 times longer than traditional incandescent and halogen bulbs, this initiative delivers immediate reductions in both ongoing operational spend and environmental impact.

Building upon the success of the lighting upgrades, we are rapidly expanding our rollout of photovoltaic (solar panel) systems, allowing our schools to convert sunlight directly into electricity on-site.

• Proven Impact at St Clement Danes School: Following a solar panel installation completed in August 2025, the system generated 80.5 MWh of clean energy this year (92.7 MWh total since launching). This output has delivered approximately £22,000 in electricity cost savings and prevented 17,900 kg of $\text{CO}_2$ emissions—an environmental impact comparable to planting over 1,000 mature trees or driving a standard petrol vehicle for more than 44,000 miles.

• Upcoming Infrastructure Milestones: Our next photovoltaic installation is scheduled for completion at Croxley Danes School during October and November 2026. The project is projected to deliver an annual savings of £13,762 and prevent 13.2 tonnes of CO2 annually.

Tackling climate adaptation and heating modernisation

Following exceptional summer heatwaves, we continue to examine structural solutions to manage building ventilation and mitigate overheating across our sites. While acknowledging there are no simple fixes for maintaining regulated indoor temperatures during extreme weather events, we remain committed to developing solutions that improve building climate resilience.

Additional key infrastructure projects currently underway across our schools include:

• Elstree Screen Arts: Phase 2 of the lighting refurbishment at Elstree Screen Arts Academy is officially complete. The upgrade replaces legacy lighting with energy-efficient LED technology, improving visual environments for students and staff while cutting overall power consumption.

• Trust-Wide EV infrastructure: Supported by a successfully secured government grant, work is underway to install electric vehicle (EV) charging points across all our school sites. Installations and testing are taking place on a site-by-site basis over the coming months to enable staff travel choices that support broader sustainability goals.

• Decarbonising heating systems: St Clement Danes School has officially initiated the replacement of its legacy oil boilers. A specialist consultancy firm has been appointed to lead the project, working alongside school management to design and implement high-efficiency, low-carbon heating alternatives.

We look forward to sharing further updates as our climate action initiatives progress across all our school sites.