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Educational buildings comprise a considerable portion of the public non-residential building stock. In order to assess the influence of the main parameters involved in the design and possible retrofitting of educational buildings, a secondary school building was selected and investigated with respect to its thermal behavior using EnergyPlus. Designing factors, as well as construction and operational solutions are examined individually and compared with each other, in order to find the best solution for either designing from scratch or retrofitting an educational building. In particular, the orientation of the openings, the thermal mass of the building and alternative insulation solutions, such as the thickness and location of the insulation layers in the building components, are compared. The simulation confirms, that the best orientation for educational buildings is the one in which their long axis coincides with the east-west one. The internally insulated building requires less energy but the difference is too small to be considered cost efficient. Regarding the heating system, from the alternative scenarios examined a one or two hour morning reheat strategy reduces the needed installed capacity for heating by up to 10%.