Is the lighting in your classroom affecting your students’ learning?
Some of you may be surprised to learn that lack of light in a classroom can not only affect students’ behaviour, but their health too. But this can be avoided, simply by upgrading to LED lighting.
It may seem as though we are stating the obvious when we say that the classroom environment has an effect on a student’s learning. After all, schools nationwide work hard to ensure their classrooms are safe and welcoming environments for their students to learn in every day. But did you know that even something as simple as the light in a classroom can impact students’ productivity, concentration and their health too?
How lighting in your classroom can affect pupil’s well-being
A paper published by ‘Lighting for People’ explains, “Light affects our well-being and health much more than most people realise. Light sets our body clock, thus regulating our sleep-wake cycle, immune responses, appetite and many more of our functions and behaviours. Next to this, light has acute effects on mood, alertness and attention…”
There have been multiple studies which have examined the effect school lighting has on students and many have found that by introducing better quality lighting in a classroom, students perform better, behave better and show higher levels of well-being. In fact, a study conducted by the University of Salford School on the Built Environment in Manchester found that classroom design could impact a student’s progress over an academic year by as much as 25%. Although it’s not just the quality of light in a classroom that has an effect; the colour of the light is also important. For example, ‘Lighting for People’ reported that exposing students to brighter light with higher components of blue in the mornings can reduce sleepiness and aggressive behaviour, and can have a positive influence on students’ moods.
Whilst most studies point to the fact that natural light is the best light source for a classroom, not all schools are lucky enough to occupy new buildings which allow high levels of natural light into classrooms. But if your school occupies an older building, it doesn’t mean you have to withstand poor lighting conditions that could be having a detrimental effect on your students – and staff for that matter. Plus, let’s not forget that natural light can sometimes be lacking even in the newest buildings, on darker days.
The benefits of LED lighting
By upgrading to LED lighting as an alternative, your school can help ensure students are receiving the best light levels, the right colour gradients, as well as cooler temperatures. Utility Rentals are now able to provide LED lighting to schools and arrange installation outside of the school day, avoiding disruption or major building work.
Together with the Energys Group – a UK leader in manufacturing and installing retrofit technologies within schools – we can offer a wide range of retrofit LED lighting which will simply fit into your existing light fittings. The high-quality LED lighting products provided by the Energys Group offer even light distribution and low glare. The excellent colour they provide can also be tailored to your space, whether you require a cooler tone, warm white or a light which resembles daylight. Plus, by upgrading to LED lighting with the help of Utility Rentals and the Energys Group, your school won’t just benefit from exceptional light quality, but you will also see a reduction in energy costs and the school’s carbon footprint as well, as LED lighting is far more energy efficient than traditional fluorescent lighting.
How we can make LED lighting attainable for your school
On the surface, upgrading to energy-efficient LED lighting seems like a no-brainer – and it is! Yet finding the budget to proceed may be a sticking point for most schools. But what if we told you that you could upgrade to LED lighting without the need for any upfront capital budget and reduce your long-term maintenance costs?
Well with the help of Utility Rentals, you can! We have developed a unique lease package which enables schools to upgrade their lighting immediately. The cost of the lighting, installation and any ongoing maintenance charges, can be spread across a 3 or 5-year rental period. Payments can be made annually or quarterly to best suit your budget, and you can relax knowing that the payments remain fixed for the duration of the rental.
In most cases, the savings on the schools’ electricity bills will outweigh the lease cost, ultimately freeing up budget for other uses within the school. In addition to this, we include a 5-year parts warranty as standard, so even if a bulb was to fail, your school won’t have to pay anything at all to replace it.
To find out how your school could start improving students’ behaviour and health, whilst reducing your energy costs in the process, contact us on 01628 667373. We’d love to discuss the possibilities of upgrading your school to LED lighting.
Interested but not sure where to begin? Check out our guide to LED lighting.
