aGREE RE KIDS AND WATER BOTTTLES

all lunchtime they piss about then it" oh i need some water"

i took mine home for lunch today

I guess there is no upper temp because prior to global warming it wasn't thought nec

gave HT permission to turn garden hose on dcs today if hot tomorrow

Chocolate shoes - see the thread in style and beauty.

I'm glad i managed to find some specialist heat-rejection film to apply to the outside of our conservatory. Even in the full glare of the sun. i'm cool as a cucumber but the glass is boiling!
Just have to make sure cold water is NOT splashed onto the glass when it's this hot.
Don't want it cracking because of thermal shock.

i like this sentence ... "Animals were given regular hosings down and sprayed with dirt, which acts as a barrier to the sun," ... DS2 will be fine then - he is always grubbing around covered in a layer iof grime

(wonders whether to reapply suncream on top of it or not)

ooh look what i've found

Janeite if it is any consolation my skylight and automatic windows are quite annoying. They open and short according to temperature and I think if it rains, that can mean that when the conditions are borderline they open and shut, open and shut, open and shut.....

You can guarantee as well that if I have just got a bottom set year 9 class settled and into an activity they will start to open and shut again,

i knew there was mention of school's closing - so 2006 would have been right. at the time i was thinking pah it will be jsut as hot at home but you can get out the paddling pool/go to the beach/ swimming, have ice lollies etc etc.,
and didnt people die in paris during their heatwave, probably 2006 as well. <<more likely the elderly>>

Yes. My DD's school closed for a day in the summer of 2006.

ach, tuffen up

I agree bloss and seeker
I lived in hot countries and i dont call this week's weather 'humid' or 'heatwave'.

At least mine can take their tie off.

When i lived in Lausanne in Switzerland in my youth, they would send you home if the temperature was 40c, but this was in the 1970's and i don't think they had air conditioning then.

I agree re the uniform chocolateshoes.

My DSes are still expected to wear their shirts done all the way up and their ties. They also have to take their blazers in, in case the weather forecast is wrong!

A year 5 boy came out of my los school today clearly unwell but no staff member had noticed.
He stood by the wall with his bike and looked dreadful
I asked him if he was okay - was his mum coming to meet him and he burst into tears

Clearly my mentioning his mummy was too much for him poor soul

Seriously though he was obviously very unwell due to being dehydrated and no one had noticed I sent him back in and he was looked after, bit late though

my classroom is a portacabin - like a fridge in Feb and an oven now. Add 30 teenagers 'sweating cobs' and it is pretty grim. Not sure much teaching & learning is taking place. Also the kids don't really have a summer uniform unlike in Australia (well according to Home & Away!) so they really are struggling. Don't think they should send them home but our school needs a more practical uniform. Am aslo struggling clothes wise myself. Can't anything too revealing yet need to be cool & smart. Help!

It doesn't help when schools make children keep their water bottles outside the classroom!
Also, many adults still see drinking as a weakness & don't encourage it in class

I was in High School in California, and once it got to 100 degrees, we went home. Actually strictly speaking, once the thermometer just outside the principal's office hit 100 degrees the school alarm would go off and we'd go to the beach!

FAbBakerGirl I share your concern re not drinking enough during the day.

dd does have access to water all day but I think like a lot of dcs she doesn't really drink much of this as it gets a bit lukewarm.

I give a large drink first thing at home, plus plenty of milk on cereal. At lunchtime I send in quite a large drink. when I collect her (if I am not working) I take a big chilled drink with me, and then give another 1-2 drinks at teatime/early evening.

I think keeping a child at home just because it's hot is a poor message to give to the child.

Some children (and adults) are, imo a lot more sensitive to the heat.

dd had sports' day yesterday - out on the field from 0930 until 1pm. To be fair the ht was sensible and they had plenty of shade (gazebo and trees) and all dcs afaik had suncream and hats on, plus water bottles within reach which could be easily refilled.

However dh and I are both prone to heat/sunstroke and dd was sent home at 1030 this morning. Imo this was due to heatstroke or similar. She was terribly pale and clammy with distressing nausea (didn't actually vomit). Dh and I have both had episodes like this.

I have kept her resting at home (she is normally v active) with loads of water/fluids. even dd2 (who isn't 2 yet) saw her sister lying in bed last night looking very pale and still and very aptly said "uh oh"

However not all dcs react like she does so I don't think sending them all home is a good idea.

My son felt poorly this afternoon and I am sure it is due to the heat and quite possibly him not drinking enough water.

Not sure how I can get him to drink more when I am not there.

put a sports bottle full of water in the freezer tonight and viola! icy cold water to sip all day long tomorrow. Well at least a few hrs.

Oops, I mean help not helf! Must be the heat!

DD's school has had the school play this week!
150 kids & hundreds of parents all crammed into the tiny school holiday for 3 consecutive days of performances
It doesn't helf that no drinks or toilet breaks are allowed! I really think they should have cancelled!

I have very hot classroom and when I asked I was told a classroom has to be at 34 degrees or 10 days in a row to be classed as unsuitable to teach in and for children to work in.
This is to be found somewhere in some legal buildings bumf! However I tuned out as it was clear we are not going to get 10 days and therefore nothing was going to be done!
We just let the kids drink loads and have fans on (although they are not a solution). The children on the whole know it is beyond our (the teachers) control and are really great.
Roll on winter!! ( or the summer holidays)

Ok - I am now jealous of Flatcap's skylight and Rosin's office! They took my office away and turned it into another room.

I'm keeping ds home tomorow. Sports day and hot stuffy buildings and a terrible non a/c bus home. I don't think so!

My office, fortunately, is pleasantly cool. But some of the classrooms get very hot in this weather.

The only thing I find tricky is I need to go to the loo more often when I'm drinking so much, and that's tricky if you've got lessons back-to-back!

Children don't melt in the heat, you know!

They don't dissolve in the rain, or freeze solid in the snow either, but I'll save those remarks for the appropriate season!

My dd vomited from the heat on Monday & the school excluded her for 48 hours!

She was thrilled to have time off and pronounced that she had "never felt better". She has spent the time camping in my mum's garden and going swimming!

If she becomes bullimic it will be the school's fault.

one of mine got sent home today because she just got too hot (she has v thick hair - it's like a carpet on her head!) and her classroom is very hot (glass wall on one side)

NUT say 26 degrees is max working temp and we should all have fans etc to keep cool- yeah right!

They took the blinds down in my room when they put new windows in, and they're currently in a heap on the floor under my IWB. With 20 computers in a very small room, it gets really hot; two fans and a portable AC unit don't make a dent. It's just about bearable until the class comes in, then it gets ridiculous and we all swelter. The windows open about two inches as well, which is just stupid (the opening bit is high off the ground, so safety isn't an issue there).

Too right, seeker - I remember feeling very fortunate to be working in a classroom at my last school which was in what used to be the library. So it had the remnants of an AC system in it, though not very good. (AC is not normal in Australian schools at all.) I remember the boys sighing with relief as they came inside because the AC had brought it down from 42C to 32C...

I appreciate that humidity makes it harder, but it doesn't explain the difference, MOM and Lizzylou. The major population centres like Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne usually have very high humidity in addition to high temperatures. A few months ago it was 47C and 95% humidity in Melbourne - which is about as far south as you can go on the mainland.

Moan all you like - you are not used to it, and it is horrid. (I hate this kind of heat too.) My point is only that it is not dangerous to continue with life as normal.

Good think none of you are at school in Australia - or India, or parts of Africa!

It would be very silly to send schools home during hot weather and would open up a whole can of worms.

First of all, it is unlikely that it is any cooler at home and parents would then need to take time off work to look after younger children.

Loads of other places manage without mega whinging. For example, when we lived in the USA, the children returned to school mid-August when the temperature was around 100F, with 90+% humidity. The schools did not have air conditioning. They managed with fans.

Really, if a school manages its fans and blinds properly, they can keep the temperatures well below 30C. When we lived in a hot place without AC, we knew when to pull down the blinds, and when to start up the fans, and where to place the fans for optimum efficiency.

yes schools do send pupils home, when working as a teacher in Guildford, Surrey in the very hot summer 2006 the school shut 3 days early at the end of summer term as both the staff and kids were melting.

It helped that the school was voluntary aided and had more freedom to do these things. School shave a legal obligation to be open a set number of days a year and cannot just shut and send kids home. I'm not even sure that local authorities can overrule this.

But as has been said there is no upper limit on workplace temperature (which seems daft as there is a lower one and you can kill someone by overheating them as surly as freezing them).

Flatcap - I have ed at your skylight before and now I am doing it again!

V surprised to hear that Ourlady - tis not the usual thing.

Must remember to take a big bottle of water tomorrow - I forgot today.

Flatcap - I have ed at your skylight before and now I am doing it again!

V surprised to hear that Ourlady - tis not the usual thing.

Must remember to take a big bottle of water tomorrow - I forgot today.

it was hot in my room this pm. as the sun had moved round. yep. v little teaching can happen esp when the boys had spent the whole of lunch chasing a football despite the heat.

aye bigchris. teachers know. but the regs are made with the teachers and the children in mind?

My classroom althougb stunning to view is in effect a greenhouse and although I have a sky light and windows that open if there is no breeze outside it makes little difference. I have found it incredibly hard to keep teaching today and the kids found it even harder to kepp on task. I am coming home every night felling quite ill.

My DS (14) has been told if it gets above I think 32 tomorrow they'll be sent home.

My dcs had their sports day yesterday and I was surprised it went ahead. They came home beetroot red, but had had a fantastic day. Agree about the humidity, we have just returned from holiday where the temps were the same as here but you could walk around without sweating at all whereas here everything is sticky and it is hard to breath.

Agree with MOM, it is so humid, I can't stand it.
I have been to Australia and could cope fine with the dry heat in the centre, although I appreciate in the North of Australia where it is more tropical it is probably very humid.

My 3 year old hates this weather, prob because he is as well padded as me.

teaches there are hotter places to work you know, like care homes, hospitals and swimming pools

i don't think its the heat so much as te humidity bloss. Heat we can cope with but when there is no air i for one can't breathe (asthmatic)

Australians the same species? . The fact is we're not used to it, we don't have air-con and it is just too hot for little ones. I think that if you've always lived in a hot climate you do adapt but we're just not that evolved here yet.

Australians the same species? . The fact is we're not used to it, we don't have air-con and it is just too hot for little ones. I think that if you've always lived in a hot climate you do adapt but we're just not that evolved here yet.

Nope, not dangerous.

Well, I agree that this weather is too hot and uncomfortable. And that everyone has to get their act together about water and sunscreen and hats etc... But I disagree that the temperatures are dangerous. As an Australian, I appreciate that this is unusual in the UK, but we are the same species and we do cope... (Mind you, Australians are big sooks when it comes to coping with persistent rain - the schools don't know what to do!)

I can't see it ever happening and there is certainly no law regarding temperatures. My classroom has one whole wall which is nearly all glass and the windows open about 3 inches due to health and safety. I had a class of Yr 10 in there this afternoon, with laptop computers and it was virtually impossible for them to work. You could just about taste the heat in there it was so oppressive.

There is no legal upper working limit, despite being a lower one - so legally I doubt they ever have to send children home in warm weather.

yup, forecast to be even hottoer here tomorrow and ds has to attend an inter school sports event outside, lasting all day - and there is no water provided - only whatever the children can actually carry to the event itself...I am quite cross about it actually.

It's the heats for ours too WheretheWild, I am hoping it is cancelled.

It's far too hot to be running around or sitting about outside.

It's ds (4) sports day tomorrow, and they are saying it will still go ahead, I am seriously thinking if keeping him at home.

I find this weather far more hazardous to childrens health than snow and ice.

There are risks of overheating, of getting sunstroke, sunburn, dehydration etc etc. Teachers and TAs can't watch EVERY child to make sure they drink enough, don't run round, wear their hats (if they have them), apply suncream (a lot of them don't), stay in the shade.

It's a nightmare.

I went to pick up Ds2 today and found them all lined up ready to go with their teacher spraying them all with a water sprayer

Ds said she had been doing it to them all day, they certainly enjoyed it, although I don't envy her teaching them today.

My ds's school has been showing films at lunchtime for the children who don't want to go out to play in the heat.

I do think when the temp is in the high 90's that sports days should be abandoned.

just discovered there is a minimum but no maximum limit

nope, no upper limit to temp in schools. My DD1 was most upset today as she was sent outside to play today and wanted to stay in as she was too hot.

one of my friend's children was refused permission to go and fill up her water bottle at lunchtime as ''she should have remembered to do it before''

Think that's a bit shitty, to say the least.

i think there is some H&S thing where if a school or workplace reaches above a certain temp for a certain number of days you can stay off. Obviously if you work by a furnace it won't apply to yoU!

I think they should.

A lot of schools were closed during the snow because of broken heating and health and safety issues.

I think it's a health and safety issue when you have no air con and a very very hot classromm. Quite a few kids have been sent home feeling sick.

As soon as I walk into our classroom I can feel my t-shirt begin to stick to me. Even with all the windows open it doesn't make a blind bit of difference. We've complained to the Head but he doesn't seem to think it important. We haven't even got a fan ffs!

Some schools are putting childrens health at risk by continuing to stuff them into overheated classrooms.

smugmum at DSes' school the only room that has air con is the HT's office!

I can't see them being sent home, but wouldn't mind if they did!

Unfortunately, no.

My classroom is sooooo hot, the kids are really lethargic and tbh I'm struggling. It's a new building but without aircon and no breeze.

<melts>

having just returned home from a day's teaching to hot sweaty kids in a hot sweaty classroom i can confirm Zoe's hypothesis that not much work gets done. We've all been on go slow...myself included

i do seem to remember one occasion, perhaps it was somethign else, and i couldnt understand it either, excpet you can hose them down.

No cooler at home than at school though, is it wishful thinking from your ds do you think?!

Only reason I would expect them to send home is if the water was cut off for some reason. I don't imagine much work gets done in very hot weather though.

There is no max temp for workplaces, I always assumed the same applied to schools I guess but I could be proven wrong!

ds seems to think at 35 degrees, not likely i think to reach that