To think closing schools or making them "optional" during the heatwave is putting pressure on working parents and is just a bit silly?

So OP is saying children shouldn't be given the option to stay at home during a heatwave because working parents get hurt feelings. Ok then, so we should all put out children in a dangerous situation just to spare your feelings 🙄 I don't think so.

School isn’t childcare.

It's not new. In the 70s in infants someone in the school would go round to my grandparents house as they lived closer if I was ill then they would pick me up. In the 80s during secondary my father was called several times to pick me up during the day due to illness or accident. So no it's not a new thing

It was great for me when I didn't have to travel to work, sit in an office hotter than a greenhouse, do anything more strenuous than load the washing machine and twat about on Mumsnet maybe evict an occasional bumblebee that wandered in through the balcony door as the breeze coming straight off the estuary made my flat a peaceful, cool haven, too.

It's a bit different when crossing from one classroom to another feels like you've just opened the oven door when it's on gas mark 8 and there's standing around in full sun waiting for buses that have just as likely overheated or some of the woodland has caught fire near the train track.

In the 1990s parents absolutely would get asked to pick up sick children… vivid memories of being sat in reception for hours while lots of other Ill children were picked up (dad often worked abroad, mum a teacher Two hours from my school).

That sounds horrendous.

Why not retrain as a teacher? As you say, you’ll be working shorter hours, have better pay and conditions.

You’d also have the same holidays as your kids so no need to find childcare.

You can get a scholarship or bursary to train as well as a loan for tuition fees, so it won’t cost you anything upfront and you’d still have an income to cover the essentials.

Sounds much better than your present job, so why not go for it?

https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/

Standing room only these days. Sick bay is more of an A&E unit.

This is relatively new though. When I was at school you just went to the sick bay until pick up tine

ohh where are you? We are in Hants. It’s not been communicated to parents yet as still waiting for the head to make final decision

Have you asked? One of the schools I was at Governor at used some of the funds to ensure that all children could attend extracurricular activities and that they weren’t just limited to those who could afford to pay

Not here !

Just a FYI, they might be closing schools on Friday too!

It's often spent on minibuses or additional classroom assistants which benefits all DC. Some schools also keep some to subsidise poor kids to go on local trips.

If school is optional parents just send kids off to school. It's going to be 40 degrees today and tomorrow. Sports days have to be cancelled or postponed. It's really just too hot for kids to learn after about 11am.

Just ask. They’re obliged to provide a breakdown

I’m back to update. I’ve been teaching online since I met with colleagues at 8 am to share some online teaching resources that I have prepared (it makes sense to share them).

So my day so far has been
8-8.30 am online meeting with share and sharing of online resources for teaching lessons today - I prepared these overnight and it took me about 2 hours yesterday evening
8.40- 9.00am tutor group check in
9-10 am lesson 1 Year 8 register and online teaching for me this is about 15 minutes of me setting out tasks etc and relevant clips all delivered online. They complete the task and post it on onenote I stay online giving help and support where needed on video
10-11 repeat but Year 10 lesson
11.00-11.15 am I have ‘breaktime’ the reality is this one meeting with one parent / child online on teams who is struggling with some problems
11.15-12.15 another year 8 lesson repeat lesson 1 to a different class but this is all online and recorded.

Ive grabbed a salad out of the fridge and gone to the toilet and I restart in less than 30 minutes. I also have have to phone two parents about some issues and then I have to mark everything. Our school day finishes at 4.30 pm and then I will plan tomorrow as I obviously can’t do all the practicals I planned and then also mark today’s work.

For those of you thinking teaching is parenting or childcare - it isn’t I’m clear on that. For those of you saying we are having a paid day off - no I’m working all day. Same as normal and I’d rather be in school but it isn’t safe for them or for us. Until the government invests in schools and has proper ventilation, heating systems and air conditioning 32 students and me in a lab during a heat wave or a freezing October - February (they turn the heating off over the weekend isn’t normal and school don’t have it on until November to save costs) this is the best option.

Several families today - I had 4 of my students who were all together in one house on the call and several others in groups. They don’t need to be alone and most secondary students (not necessarily primary) can work with their friends without constant supervision - me I’m available constantly online today apart from right now. Salad, ten minutes on here and catching up with my own child!

For any of those thinking teachers don’t work and basically get paid for nothing / please feel free to join the government recruitment drive to find another 6 000 teachers! There is a reason for so many vacancies.

My son's school made it optional for a 1pm pick up today. My daughter's specialist school is closed and has been since yesterday.

I will collect my son as the building is unbearable. If lowering body count in the building helps everyone else then it's a win win

@Butt3rButt3r
my kids school raises £40k per year through PTA events …. I’ve yet to see what they actually spend that on

The point is schools don’t NEED to close it just requires thinking outside the box as another poster pointed out what her school is doing with outside classrooms etc. portable AC units are an actual thing! - my schools PTA raises the best part of £40k out of parents per year and I’m sure a chunk of that could be spent on AC

school isn’t childcare no - if it was I wouldn’t get fined for taking my children on holiday would I?
but what I do expect is that if it’s a statutorily designated SCHOOL DAY then the school remains open to fulfil their statutory obligations. Or at least the school offers the option to parents - collect early if you want/stay stay home but for those children whose parents simply can’t do that that they stay open

School isn't childcare. Yes they did all the things you said but they also call home to ask for pick up if a child is ill, has an accident, it snows, it's hot, is suspended etc etc. yes they care for kids during the school day but it needs the parents to pick up as soon as they are asked which means parents always need a plan b. Schools can call for a child to be picked up at any point during the school day because ultimately child care is the parents responsibility not the school, they are their to educate.

My DC at school in London - no early closure. In fact, we have been told it would be unauthorised absence taking them out. They only just cancelled a school trip to Central London because it involves trains and train operators have warned of trains not working. And they cannot get stuck on a train with no water, as they would be legally liable potentially.
Some of our local schools have air conditioned classrooms - not sure how they are funding it. Neither of our schools have any aircon units.
Our schools also ran a full programme during Covid online pretty much from the get go. They barely ever close or drop the ball. They only close when the top dog at the top is too scared that someone may sue him or her and their head will roll or when the DFE mandates them to. Otherwise the teachers are expected to be martyrs and the parents are threatened with unauthorised absences.

Oh and our outdoor space is a concrete waste land on the roof. No trees, no shade. We go to the local park for big PE. I'm going to take the temp up there later - think it's going to rival the sun.

But it's ok. All good here. Childcare needed for all the very important people out there. My own DD is in a hospital which has space and opening windows and not full of small rooms crammed full of too many bodies.

We are almost at 40. Bit of a competition now between depts who can get the hottest room. We will win as we are on 3rd floor, have no blinds and south facing rooms. I'm taking my next class to sit in the direct sun light as it's cooler (this is a joke).

I just dropped my kid into a state school and had to go into class to sign an injury form. It’s already boiling at 8.45. With 30 kids in a tiny room who can’t outside and a measly fan the teacher has bought from home. Absolutely ridiculous so no not unreasonable to close. Unreasonable they don’t have AC

It's not just us - random mumsnetters - that are viewing them as such.
The government clearly sees them as childcare too. Yes, it's not their primary purpose, but they are childcare.
That's why they let children of keyworkers only go to school during COVID - because they wanted those parents to work.
That's why they change the benefit claim requirements when kids get to school age - because they expect parents to get able to work whole kids are in school.

The "school isn't childcare" line only gets trotted out when it's convenient