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

The workers didn't just put up with stuff? 😮

I posted earlier in this thread as my son's school made attendance optional Weds afternoon and all day Thursday. They had about a third of Children in. We are right in the record breaking location so as hot as it got.

Every other school chose to force a closure, no optional.

Thursday around 4pm we got a message saying the school would be closed Friday despite Friday being much cooler forecast. It made no sense to us.

It was revealed that around 2pm Thursday a teacher collapsed incredibly poorly in front of the KS1 class they had made for the day and was blue lighted to hospital. She is still in hospital.

Their school had rooms recording well over 40 degrees. The children did not look okay on Tuesday, let alone what it must have been like Weds or Thurs.

Well I thought everyone knew about the unions stronghold holding the country to ransom in the 70s TBH

The generation that famously ‘got on with it’? 😮 say it isn’t so!

In the 70s half the bloody country was on strike for one reason or another. Not necessarily sod all to do with heat

Think people view 1976 through very rose tinted specs. I remember stand pipes in the streets and power cuts.

When it gets hot we are not geared up for it, and this needs to change.

Oh look, in 1976 schools closed early because of the heat and there were strikes by workers because of intolerable working conditions. Guess they didn't 'just get on with it' then.

My classroom was 32 degrees at 10.30am and very unpleasant by 11am. We ended up in the library basically off timetable as they were too hot to learn. Kids that felt ill I shoved in front of the fan. They were all quite listless and grumpy. Most of them went at 1.30 and they shoved the remaining 20 who stayed in a cooler part of a school with all the available fans. I had to dash off at lunch to get my own kids though as their school was closed.

I wouldn't have wanted my kids in school in the afternoon if I could possibly help it. They were far happier at home.

I have no interest in the opinions of the gammons on GB news doing performative whining and that cruise TOWIE idiot.

Those schools are led by idiots. Ours should have been closed but at least we've gone own clothes (has led to a few dodgy outfits).
But no school should be sending kids home ! It's such a no no these days and they would be OFSTED failed if ever found out.

Finally done after a week from hell (& as hot as). Off to the pub, there is a large cold cider with my name on it.

Agreed but I did think it happened. A school local to me only relaxed the uniform for blazers and ties and a girl was put in isolation for going in PE kit because my school did (we share a site. I only learned of the news from the local community page). Those schools don't help the majority of caring schools.

@EasternStandard Tbf, CM wasn't on a cruise. She was in a studio telling the world that 'we didn't win two WW with a snowflake mind'. It was a celebrity influencer who was on a cruise for work who now had to organise childcare for her daughter in the UK.

What parents say and what actually happened can vary somewhat. It would be surprising if any school would send a child home these days as it's a safeguarding risk.

I'd like to hear the schools version. Very often 'recollections vary'. If they expected them to wear blazers in 35 degree heat the they are stupid

I can say I’ve never heard of Carole Malone, on a cruise 😄

And this didnt happen either
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/heatwave-schools-weather-uniform-policy-37347831?utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=main&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwY2xjawSrh8hleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETA4Zm1qNGIzeXIxR3JUc0Fjc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHkZVMujgQ3AYT8qvUd9h7A2IJgYCcsMTzMjRS4dm39wCrMhwlSo5ivDGk5vg_aem_53whQMvyJTTll4Hy8EQtPg#Echobox=1782452627

@lovecotswoldsliving Can you not see the major difference between those GP working hours and the hours a teacher works? Clue: pay.

It shouldn't necessarily be the default to close schools with the types of temperatures we've seen this week, just as it shouldn't necessarily be the only or even best option to limit or shut down public transit or to request that office workers who normally commute instead telecommute. But the inadequate-to-the-current-task infrastructure makes this advisable and sometimes necessary in some areas. The infrastructure needs to be upgraded to handle rising temperatures so that less disruption occurs. And this needs to be broadly coordinated; there's no sense saying "everyone go to work" if transit is unavailable or unreliable or if schools are continuing to routinely close all day. And obviously things like dress codes may need to be relaxed.

I don't mean to do a competitive hardiness thing, but temperatures in the mid or even high 30s - while uncomfortable for most people - are not outliers by global standards. There may be useful examples in how these events are handled elsewhere especially as places already used to relatively higher temperatures have also been dealing with overall rises and spikes (one hint: they typically don't try to run regular school terms in the summer). Temperatures aren't going to go back down, so investing time and money analysing needs and taking action now makes sense.

Well if they need A&E they might have a lengthy wait behind any kids who have got ill. They should be careful what they wish for

The parent is easy to find on facebook

Another reason im glad im child free Wont be accused of lying

I am getting mightily sick of Carole Malone, celebrity influencers etc berating schools for closing early from the air conditioned rooms (and a cruise ship).

At 10 am site staff went around the building recording temps from outside each classroom (but didn't enter just stuck the probe in) and I received an urgent message to move my next class to the hall. They recorded 36 degrees. I was glad when lunch time arrived when I could leave!

There is no online triaging.
Most people know if they need to see the GP quickly. What’s the difference in them taking your details, if they are not sure and then passing this onto the duty doctor.
i phoned a couple of months ago and I had an appointment within the hour.

The receptionist triages ?????? Are they a doctor ? How on earth can they decide who is an emergency. Scary stuff

I think that the reality of that child's situation may differ significantly from what was observed by others at the time. The school won't be able to say that 'what actually happened was...'.

But it's just after the GCSEs and A Levels have finished, so the hall, gym and random rooms that all have to be occupied by students requiring access arrangements (as you have to evidence everything as their usual way of working for JCQ to accept them for public exams) have been available this week and last for Y10 and 6L end of year exams. It's also a good time to be able to get invigilators for another fortnight.

One week for marking and the data drop, not enough time 3 days for analysis (2 days before that for chasing the departments that failed to make the deadline) and they're done, ready for the reporting template to pull the data and issue the reports. 7-9 had to be assessed earlier in classes, but some places have the space to hold those under exam conditions as well to help them be completely used to formal conditions from the start - you get fewer anxious students in Y11 if conditions are pretty much like every other exam they've done before.

Ours work 2 -3 days a week.
They do not get in early, but work late because they are doing 12 hour shifts.
You can phone at 8.30 and the receptionist will take details. She often triages, but if not sure, you wait for a call during the morning. There is always an on call GP there in the surgery.