As London’s heatwave forced schools to close, one West London school was also forced to rearrange its year 11 prom, leaving its girls unhappy at the prospect of not signing off school with a celebration
An all-girls school in West London has had to cancel its prom after the sweltering London heatwave brought temperatures as high as 37C last week. Green School for Girls in Isleworth is now racing to reschedule the event, but says it’s struggling to find the air-conditioning units needed to keep everyone cool enough to actually enjoy it.
Even though temperatures have cooled slightly this week, the school says it still needs air-conditioning units so that the students can “feel elegant and comfortable, not melting”. The school dates back to the 1700s, and its hall gets very warm in the summer, even before more than 100 students descend on it for their prom.
After cancelling the event last week, the school has rescheduled its prom to Thursday (July 2), but is trying to find industrial air-conditioning units and the money to hire them.
The school’s Head of Year 11, Darren Silver, says his prefect team has worked incredibly hard to reschedule the event, but it has come with extra costs. Mr Silver has started a GoFundMe to help raise money to climate-proof the venue and give “these amazing young women the cool, magical celebration they deserve”.
He told MyLondon:” We didn’t want to cancel prom, but it was an option. It would have obviously upset children and parents. The venue is going to be hot, and it wouldn’t have been good for parents, staff, or the kids dancing. Now, we want to ‘climate-proof’ it by renting industrial air-conditioning units to keep the space from becoming unpleasantly hot.
“Sadly, with the new date, some girls are going to be out of the country and will miss prom now, but on the flip side, there are some girls who couldn’t make the previous date who can now. Overall, the girls are happy it’s going ahead, and they are happy to see us trying to get AC units.
“We really wanted to make this prom accessible and inclusive for every girl because in previous years, tickets have been quite expensive. This year, the Prefect team managed to raise a lot of money through fundraising activities that have meant we have been able to reduce the cost, so that cost isn’t a barrier to them attending.”
“Getting ready for prom, as I’ve found out from parents, is an all-day affair, involving many steps and many hours of preparation, so I know the girls are happy it’s going ahead. We don’t want the space to become unpleasantly hot, hence the GoFundMe campaign.”
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