Summer savings: Your school summer shutdown checklist

As the summer holidays approach, it’s the perfect time to ensure your school is set for an energy-efficient break. With a little preparation, you can avoid unnecessary energy use, cut costs, and return in the new term to a more sustainable and budget-friendly environment. Our summer holiday checklist focuses on five key areas to power down your school site effectively and responsibly.

Switch off lighting

• Ensure all internal and external lights are turned off.
• For lights controlled by timers or Building Energy Management Systems (BEMS), double-check settings to avoid lights operating unnecessarily during the holidays.

Set heating and hot water systems to summer mode

• Turn off all radiators, electric heaters, and fan convectors, or set them to frost protection if needed.
• Place boilers into summer/holiday mode and switch off hot water heaters where they’re not needed.

Shut down air conditioning and ventilation

• Power down all air conditioning units and ventilation systems.
• Check with your IT team if you need to make an exception for areas like server rooms that may require continuous cooling.

Power down IT and office equipment

Avoid unnecessary standby power usage by fully shutting down and switching off equipment and technology at the socket:

• Laptops and computers
• Monitors and interactive whiteboards
• TVs and display screens
• Printers and photocopiers

Empty and unplug vending machines

• Remove any perishable items.
• Switch off machines at the socket to prevent energy waste during the break.

A greener start to the new academic year

With our summer shutdown checklist, you can keep your energy costs down and and your sustainability efforts up. If you’re ready to take the next step in sustainability, consider booking a place on one of our autumn Energy and Carbon Management training workshops. And to understand how to tackle the DfE’s sustainability targets, our Greener Schools Index is the perfect tool to start, or accelerate, your climate action.