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

Do you understand global warming?

I would collect them both at midday or not sending them at all

Well my dgc has been absolutely fine with it. Never was an issue when my kids were at school either. Nobody was unwell etc

Do they? What about the headteachers spoken about on this thread who closed their air conditioned schools? 🤣 mine was one of them although admittedly you could leave the children there until normal pick up if needed

Of course they are. The company running them has responsibility for the residents safety.

Oh cos that's the same as being a chef in an industrial kitchen 😂😂😂

You could also just... not do food tech that day?

Not like a chef in a hospital kitchen can stop though, is it?

You do what you would do if your child was unwell and couldn't go to school.

Ive been to open afternoons in our school all throughout the year and even when it gets up to 17-20 degrees the classroom is unbearably hot so no I don’t think it’s being unreasonable

Not to mention there is actually a red weather warning in place

I wish that local ones would co-ordinate. Now I have to go out in the midday heat to pick up one child from the secondary school and go back in the mid afternoon heat to collect her sister form the junior school that’s across the road from it.

Have you ever been inside a care home, in an old building, with no air conditioning, and zero money to buy fans?

For 12 hours? Whilst cleaning up literal shit and being kicked and punched? for minimum wage?

Do we get time off?

Are our buildings not a danger to our extremely vulnerable residents?

Schools unlike workplaces are full of children who haven't established the same regulation or have the same personal autonomy adults in workplaces have. Adults in workplaces also have access to things like fridges and can access things like cold water when then need it, children have access to warm water from a fountain.

A lot of of offices are letting their staff work from home and leave early due to the heat. Whilst ALL workplaces aren't shutting, ALL schools aren't either.

The "just a bit sweaty 😂" powering through hero parents will be front of the line to complain if their kids become unwell from the heat or they have to be picked up early because teachers do.

When you have kids you have to plan for taking care of them sometimes, unfortunately.

They'd be going home to those high rise flats, abusive parents and no food every weekend and holiday but people on here only ever give a fuck about them if schools close.

I have a fairly standard medical problem that needs to be seen in a couple of weeks. When I AI’ed my symptoms I was told to go to A&E which is 90 mins away and it’s not an emergency. Phoned again for an appointment and they said they had a phone call mid July. I said fine but then she asked me what was wrong and said the gp will call you back in the next 8 hours. They didn’t. So I expect the heat is causing problems. My options are A&E or nothing. I am doing nothing.

Lets be sensible in the heat and not make it worse.

If only schools taught cooking, Oh hang on they do, and yes been there, done that, bought the fucking T-shirt.

I have just been sitting in my garden hearing a really distressed 6 year old absolutely beside herself because she has to go to school tomorrow and her friends don’t have to. Absolutely get the fact that many people including myself have no option but to work. If my children were school aged I would have tried to make contingency plans in advance. It’s too hot for children to be cooped up in a classroom with 30 other kids . Hopefully schools will get the children outside,preferably in the shade with lots of water fun ..

What a bizarre comment, of course YABU. School leaders know the conditions of their schools better than you do, including how hot it gets in various parts of the building and where they can feasibly put the number of students they will have. Obviously if they cannot house all of their students safely, some or all of them need to be sent home.

All schools will be different, depending on construction/layout and number of bodies so it make sense that some schools may keep students home and others may not.

Have you been inside a primary school in an old building with zero air conditioning and no money to buy fans?

Thankfully most of our parents collected their kids at lunch time. The remaining 20 we were able to fit in the only marginally cooler room in the building. Where we mostly laid on the floor or played with ice and scavenged every fan we could find. Had all 200 kids stayed at school it would have been a total nightmare.

I'm sure there are some lovely cool schools out there, but ours would have been a danger to health

The inside, with all possible precautions of one my child’s classroom is over 40 degrees in the afternoon… it’s plainly unsafe and I support their decision to encourage all the families who can to pick up children at lunchtime. It’s very inconvenient for me as a FT working mum. But safety has to come first and no learning will be happening.

I really feel for you @goodoldsussexbythesea . It sounds awful and the childcare stress is the last thing you need to worry about tonight

Yes, it’s on par with closing schools for covid. But it’s all by design, priming the brains ready for future ‘climate lockdowns’

OK let's game this out. If I were a lone parent I would make sacrifices to afford childcare. If I still couldn't afford childcare I'd ask friends and family to help me out. I personally know some people who don't work, or work flexi or who have random days off. I'm lucky enough to have many friends who would help me out, as I would do them in a pinch.

If I were so unfortunate that I had no partner, no money, no family AND no friends, I'd call in sick to work or take emergency leave.

All of these before I'd put my kids in danger. Because yes, 40 degree classrooms are clearly and objectively dangerous. As is a mile long walk each way to and from school.

And sometimes being a parent means you need to inconvenience yourself, or make cutbacks or ask someone for a favor even if it makes you cringe to do so because that's what parents do.

some Kids would go home to ice lolly’s, paddling pools and SAHP’s.
How about those kids who are sent home to their high rise flats with no opening windows, no food at home and abusive parents? Where do you think they are safer? Schools are the safest place for a lot of kids, maybe this week it isn’t for yours, keep them home if you want. But schools should not be closing to everyone because of the weather. There are always work arounds. There is no school that couldn’t host atleast a couple of their most vulrenable classes with a mixture of fans/coolest classrooms/reduced sizes/shaded locations. Plus key worker kids, want your surgery cancelled this week because the surgeons child couldn’t go to school? What about your elderly parents in care homes, when the staff have to stay home so there’s no one to take care of them? The world is not a bubble of nice mumsnetters children who want their kids to have a lovely day at home in the cool while they feed them ice creams.
Why any school thinks it’s acceptable to do a blanket closure in these circs is beyond me.

My sister is in the US. Her children go to summer camps for 4/5/6 weeks at a time. Like summer boarding school.
it costs >$10k per child and they don’t see much of each other. Not really parenting,’for the purists out there!

also she’s a nurse and earns $130k. Just a tad more than nurses here, I can’t imagine they could afford it if she was on £28k 🤔

My child’s school gave the option to go home early.

I felt that this was pretty sensible. Better for the ones that do have to stay for there to be less children.

My child’s school is a very old building and is so hot. There are no trees, no shade, small classrooms many of which have the sun beating in all day.

I actually think it’s disgusting and such a shame that no government has cared enough to rebuild and refurbish schools. Some of the newly built ones are amazing but the older ones are disgusting.