oddone, you are indeed lucky to be exposed to such forward thinking organisations. Not one of the three flying schools that I am involved with have a Mode S equipped aircraft and on my home field off 38 aircraft mine is the only one with mode S.
For those with an IMCR or IR wanting to do an approach in CAS which is the majority of airfields in the UK then a Mode S transponder is needed from this year.
Maybe this is going to have a greater effect on the IMCR than the proposal to bin it?