Primary school closes six times in three months due to faulty new £358k heat pump system

A primary school has been forced to close six times in just three months because its brand new £358,000 heat pump system keeps failing.

The ‘green’ energy source was installed at Kingsnorth Primary in Ashford, Kent over the summer as part of a government initiative to help schools cut carbon emissions. Unfortunately best made plans have fallen apart a little. Since pupils returned to school in September, classrooms have been left without power or heating on numerous occasions, which has proven to be a big issue given the particularly harsh winter weather Britain has been enduring.

The school was first forced to close early on November 30 because neither the gas nor electricity was working, meaning no food could be provided for the children. Kingsnorth suffered another power failure on December 6, forcing staff to close the school all day, and then again on January 10, 11, and 12.

An air source heat pump installed elsewhere

Parents have been left frustrated by the issues, explaining that they are being forced to take time out of work to collect their children every time the school closes. One mum, who asked not to be named, said: “As parents, we are getting annoyed now.

“Whenever there is an issue, we get random messages during the day to say come pick your children up. I work full time and I can’t always just leave my job. We keep being told it will get sorted as quickly as possible, but it has been going on for too long now.”

Another mum, who also wanted to remain anonymous, added: “I’ve got two children at the school and I work full time. I’m really worried I’m going to lose my job. I have to rely on friends and family to pick my children up.

“Once I could understand, but for it to happen this many times, they need to get it sorted. One of my children is in Year 6 and we are constantly told how important the SATs are, but they have lost five days of learning.”

An air source heat pump works by absorbing heat from the environment, even when temperatures are below freezing, and transferring it inside. They can be powered using electricity from renewable energy and can be up to 300 times more efficient than traditional gas boilers, as well as far greener.

Aquila Diocese of Canterbury Academies Trust, which runs 16 schools in Kent, commissioned four of the pumps as part of the government’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme.

In addition to the £358,000 funding from the government for the pump at Kingsnorth, Brenzett Church of England Primary on Romney Marsh received £243,945, St George’s Church of England Primary in Sheerness received £522,000, and St Nicholas Church of England Primary Academy in New Romney received £256,576.

While they have also had what has been described as “teething problems” with their pumps, it has not been on the same scale as Kingsnorth. A spokesperson for the Trust apologised for the school closures and promised that it is doing everything possible to rectify the situation.

They said: “We apologise for the inconvenience and disruption caused to Kingsnorth Primary School’s pupils and families and we want to assure the community that we have been, and are continuing to, do everything within our power to rectify this situation as quickly as possible.

“Our priority has always been to keep Kingsnorth open, but there have been occasions where we have had no choice but to close due to a complete failure of the heating system, electrical power issues, and the associated wider safety concerns.

“Unfortunately, the response and site attendance by contractors hasn’t been as quick as we have needed it to be, and we have continued to apply pressure and emphasise that the issues need to be addressed urgently.

“We have had electrical and mechanical engineers on-site testing electrical load capacities, as well as finding an alternative option to have a more robust temporary heating solution in place.”

The Trust added that they are planning to install an additional power source as a failsafe from the week commencing January 22.

“We have planned to install an additional power source for part of the new heating system so we can remove some of the electrical load from the school’s electrics and have the system fully operational as intended,” the spokesperson explained.

“These works are planned for the week commencing January 22 while the school remains fully open and operational. Once this has been completed, we will have all specialists on-site to reinstate the air source heat pump system.

“Should there be any additional unforeseen issues, we will have the resources to hand to identify and deal with them immediately.”

According to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme supports the aim of reducing emissions from public sector buildings by 75% by 2037. More than £1.4 billion of grant funding was provided in the latest phase of the scheme.

“The overwhelming majority of people who have installed a heat pump are satisfied with their heating, but those who are experiencing issues must contact the installer,” a DESNZ spokesperson said.

“Recipients of Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme funding carry out their own procurement process for heating installations once they have received their grant.”