Northern Irish pupils told to 'wear more clothes' to save heating costs at schools

Pupils and teachers in Northern Ireland have been asked to "wear more clothes" to keep warm in cold classrooms to save money on school heating bills.

Schools were told this in a letter to headteachers sent by the Education Authority (EA), who look after education services across Northern Ireland.

It's part of a set of measures to try and bring school costs down in a time of energy prices increasing.

The advice has had a mixed reaction from school staff who've spoken to the BBC about it.

The advice comes as school gas and electricity bills are set to rise by £8m by March next year, the EA say.

To save money, they're asking schools to use less heating and lighting "wherever possible".

For example, the EA suggest schools cutting heating by an hour a day and switching off classroom lights.

This is why they're asking pupils and staff to layer up to keep warm instead.

Mrs Logan-Hall is principal of a primary school in Craigavon, and she says there's some challenges ahead.

She says that the school's old building means that they have to use more energy to heat classrooms up.

But even in a new building, like Ms Robinson's school in Dunmurry, there are also issues.

Their building has underfloor heating, and Ms Robinson says "Our classrooms can't drop below a certain temperature so we have to keep the heating on."

Mrs Logan-Hall also says that the advice might impact "the wellbeing of pupils, including those with additional needs."