AIBU to think school closures ignore parents' work commitments?

If your child gets heatstroke and faints at school you'd have to take the time off anyway and would probably then be coming to mumsnet to complain the school didn't safeguard your child properly. Yes, its inconvenient schools are closing but safety is paramount.

Having been in a very hot classroom today with 30 youngsters and facing an even hotter day tomorrow, after a hot sleepless night, then yes YABU. Today I've comforted hot, tired, tearful and sick children. Quite honestly very little quality learning has happened.Tomorrow my own children will not be going to school, despite their schools being open.

I wouldn't apologise for inconveniencing you by sending your child home sick or if there was a gas leak in the building. These things happen and are beyond our control. In the same way, if I could safeguard my class and send them home when temperatures are extreme, I would. Parents are the backup plan when school becomes unsafe for children. British buildings are not suitable for this weather and children find it harder to change behaviours to keep cool.

Schools are not there to provide childcare. They are there to provide an education in a safe environment. If they cannot do that safely then they have no choice but to close.

Our local schools are all victoriana buildings with crappy insulation and no way to keep them at a cool enough temp to keep the kids safe. They are currently remaining open for the juniors but they are closing at 1 for the infants.

You said plural parents.

Well they can still flop on the sofa with their feet in a basin of water and have an ice lolly and just spend the day doing nothing.

The reality is most peoples homes will also be hot with parents trying to WFH because they can’t get short notice time off. As a result there will kids wandering the street in dangerous temperatures or swimming in rivers unsupervised.

I hear you, but very few schools are closing and remember teachers are parents too. So many will still be working and may get the same notification from their child’s school.

many schools do not have air con and Prinary age are more vulnerable.

Agree totally. I get parents have to work but we are employed to educate. Most of us have to arrange childcare during inset days etc. we are often parents too but I do not expect teaching staff to mind my kids.

the crazy thing is the kids will be outdoors playing in it getting burnt. It's a no win situation

I get it OP. My child’s school hasn’t decided yet if they will be closed tomorrow, we will be informed first thing. You mention cancelling planned clinics and surgeries so I’m guessing you’re a surgeon.
Obviously the safety of the children comes first but we also have to acknowledge that surgeries can’t go ahead if the surgeon is at home looking after their kids.
I’m a medical dr so whilst my clinic will be cancelled first thing if school is shut that’s probably less distressing for patients than having an elective surgery cancelled that they’ve waited months or maybe even years for. Nothing we can do about the situation I totally appreciate though!

We're on a red weather warning from midnight. Today my classroom was 33 degrees. 32 children, very hot and stuffy.
Windows open, pe kits, unlimited water, limited screens, one fan. It was really hard, no learning really happened, several children felt unwell.
We are experiencing record breaking temperatures and schools are not suitable for this heat.
Yes, it's a pita for parents. But unfortunately unavoidable. If you want to complain, try your MP.

It's hotter inside than outside.

Midlands. Temp inside was 10 degrees warmer than outside.

Utterly moronic decision for my ones school, it's less than a decade old, why wasn't it built with air con? Plus it's 1 degree warmer tomorrow & Thurs (school closed) than today (open)

So I loose 2 days work, great!

41 degrees? Where are you? It’s not been THAT hot today!
I take it you never go abroad if you vomit so easily in heat.

My kids somehow managed to stay in school all day without complaining. Wore PEs kits and one got at ice cream on the way home … the other is 14 so walked, no drama. They’ll go again tomorrow.

It’s a shit situation op. I work in a school and it’s so ridiculously hot in there. No air con or ceiling fans. We have huge windows that just absorb heat and a metal roof. It was horrible today and I’m dreading the increasing heat for the rest of the week.
The government need to invest money in to schools so that they’re more suitable for this extreme heat, even just ceiling fans would make a massive difference, we all know this won’t happen.
We can’t even afford the staff we need for the next academic year let alone the price of some sort of cooling system so this is only going to get worse

You obviously don’t work 🙄

Schools don’t care about parents work commitments full stop. They never have and never will.

No one parent is working from home. 3 kids. I know them they aren't hypothetical

Really? So all families should contain at least one parent who stays at home?
All families should contain fit and able grandparents and/or other family members?
Parents should have unlimited annual leave to spread across the whole year including the approximately 12 weeks the schools are already off.
All parents employers should offer unlimited paid parental leave when required.

Oh and all of the above should be available at a minutes notice ‘just in case’.

You’re living in dreamland. Or some middle class utopia where every household contains one parent who works and the other stays home waiting for their school children who aren’t there six hours of the day. Better not work ‘just in case’ that school-that-isn’t childcare needs to send them home.

feel your pain! We’re off Thursday and Friday anyway as heading to a premier inn and theme park (pray for me) but I’ve had to take parental leave tomorrow. Gonna make the most of it though! No home learning, paddling pool out and Aperol spritz o clock with some tunes blasting. One of the good things about being full time office based is that it forces me to take parental leave for this kind of thing, when I worked from home I’d feel obliged to muddle through and now I can’t!

A kid tipped his water bottle on his desk and splashed around in that a bit, so it's almost identical.

On holiday I can lie down all day under an umbrella wearing just 3 tiny patches of cloth and sip iced drinks and move barely an inch whilst the children splash in cooling water all day and nap in an AC'd room whenever they like.

That's what you are all doing at school all day isn't it?

HaveYouFedTheFish

I have friends and family in German, Spain, France and the Netherlands, all have said this week they’re opening at 8 closing at 12 or closing for the week

are they expected to sit in a small room with 30
others and limited ventilation while being expected to focus and learn when they are on holiday?