Should schools be open in this heat today?

[DtPeabodysLoosePants]

Thankfully we are not in London but we are still due to have temperatures of around 33 degrees today. Dd2 is still at school. We are attending this morning for an event but I'm then thinking of bringing her home.

The school has no protection from the heat and after attending an event when the temperature was 26 degrees a few years ago and it was unbearable then I suspect today will not be good. I don't drive so would have to walk over a mile to collect her with my 4 year old in tow.

We have asthma and hay fever and I struggle to breathe when it's above 23 degrees so I'm dreading today.

The school also refuse to put suncream on the children or allow them to apply it themselves. We are expected to use 8 hour stuff but after reading about this it's not necessarily long lasting and is banned is Australia due to giving false security.

The event finishes late morning. Would it be shitty parenting to collect dd when it finishes so we can avoid the hottest part of the day? I really think schools should either have cooling systems in place or close but I appreciate this would cause huge bills and difficulties for working parents. I just don't want anyone with heat exhaustion or heat stroke.

Well seeing as climate change ya happening and summers like this and last year are going to become
Typical I suggest we just need to get used to it and in time
Schools and workplaces will too. Probably worth bringing this up throughout the year to see what the schools plans are for high heat summers.

Good about the lift. That’s sensible and saves you and your child’s health.

How would they chill jugs of water for hundreds of children? They will have access to 1 fridge in the staffroom and possibly 1 in nursery. In many schools the kitchen equipment belongs to the catering equipment and they cant access the fridge or freezers
Maybe our school is especially nice but there's no way our catering staff would refuse to help out in this situation. They'd fill some jugs up with water and then I'm sure the year 5 and 6 kids can help deliver water to the classrooms. Once they've run off the first ones it'll be cold enough to drink, it doesn't need to be ice cold.

If a school can't provide 200 kids with a glass of water, I think there's something wrong. They manage to provide it at lunch time, they'd just refill those jugs for the afternoon as the kids would have their own water in the morning.

Not allowing children to apply their own sun cream seems unusual!

I wouldn't expect a school to provide a chilled glass of water. People always talk as if delivering 200 plus glasses of chilled water to multiple classrooms is straightforward, it is really not. And it is not necessary. Water is necessary, that is all.

It's a good point about what they propose to do in future years due to climate change. The local high school used to close as soon as it hit 30 but has now changed.
I insisted on sun cream before sports day and dd had to sneak it on in the toilets! Even nursery won't apply the cream, or help. They are t even allowed to have it with them. Apply in the morning and that's it. I will challenge this. Dd is going into year 6 but ds is just starting so I've a few years of this issue yet! Eldest finished before the heatwave hit so I'm not sure of their policy with the heat.
Dd1 and ds are happy in the paddling pool but I'm
Suffering with my chest 😩 mines got worse as I've got older 😔

@jennymanarafair point about it not needing to be cold, although jugs or warm water sat on the side all day are likely to make the kids feel sick

Why would it make them feel sick? I have had jobs where I don't always have access to running water and so I drink water from a stored bottle. Yes actually hot is not nice. But if they keep a few bottle of water in their bag it will be fine to drink.
Sorry but I do think this is about parents taking responsibility. Teachers should only have to be thinking about kids who are generally neglected. For all other kids, make sure they have very cold or even a few frozen bottles of water alongside ordinary water, in their bag before they leave for school.

As a teacher, I am happy for children to apply sun cream themselves, keep them in the shade, ensure they have hats and drink plenty of water.

I would not be happy to go down the route of being responsible for putting suncream on children because I can imagine exactly what could happen. If I put it on too thinly, if I missed a bit, if my nail scratched a child, if they said I touched them somewhere inappropriate, if I used the wrong cream and they were allergic.

It is a complete minefield and I know of parents who would use it as an opportunity to complain, be ‘fuming’ or outraged if I did something wrong.

I have also seen suggestions that teachers should be responsible for brushing children’s teeth. I could see that ending in cavities and filings later down the line which I wouldn’t want to be sued for.

Sorry for the detail!

One could always freeze bottles of water overnight and send them in with your child. I'd have thought they'd stay coolish for a few hours.

Sorry but I do think this is about parents taking responsibility

Not on the suncream issue, though. Even with longer lasting 6-8 hour suncream they still need some in reserve to apply if they have been sweating or got wet or had clothes brushing against skin.

Added to this there has to be provision made for additional needs within mainstream schools. Some children cannot be relied upon to apply suncream when needed or drink enough for that matter.

Good lord our last day of school was on the 6th of June! With climate change UK schools are going to have to think about finishing earlier.

Children should be able to apply suncream in school. But I understand in our culture why teachers refuse to.

Useful to hear the anecdotes from PPs brought up in Australia or wherever. “Kids brought up in intense heat just get on with it so you Brits who have seldom experienced these temperatures and aren’t at all used to it should be the same as us”.

Okay.....

Yes I should imagine schools in hotter climes are built more for heat. As UK schools should be now going forward sadly.

@Letseatgrandma that's insane. Where I am the teacher put suncream on the kids. None of what you mentioned has ever happened as ds's school or any other school I know. The UK is becoming a strange place. I don't know why people bang on about the US being very sue culturey. The UK is far more suey.

How does the school propose they keep their hands adequately protected from the sun all day? Assuming they wash their hands after using the loo (hopefully!), the spf will be washed off by lunchtime.

None of what you mentioned has ever happened as ds's school or any other school I know

I am pretty sure there would be umpteen posts on MN about it!

@catofdoom In this case blame some of the parents. Some are ready to sue or make a safeguarding complaint to SS at the drop of a hat. When I worked with kids 25 years ago I would have put sun cream on, not now though. Its just not worth the resultant hassle you will almost certainly get.

Don't get me wrong, I totally get and agree with safeguarding our children but I do feel like the UK has lost its mind a little and gotten a little red tapey too.

@jennymanara I get that. When did people in Britain become so uptight?! I swear it wasn't like that 15 odd years ago. I go back now and I hardly recognise the place sometimes.

@jennymanara well drinking tepid water that's sat in the sun all day would make me feel sick. Cold bottled water left in the shade somewhere is perfectly fine and I've sent mine in with two bottles before now, they also have a tap where teacher can get them a drink of water. But given this is a s school where kids aren't even allowed to put in appropriate sunblock....

@catofdoom Yes it has changed. You only have to read on here about parents complaining to the school about things that are incredibly minor and asking for advice to make complaints to. It goes along with the helicopter parenting that has become more common. Parents, usually mums, who try and remove any obstacle or at all unpleasant experience from their kids lives. I am still in touch with a few ex colleagues who still work with kids, all say some of the parents is the worst part of the job. It did not used to be like that.

Society basically seems all about rights. Not as human rights lawyers would express it, but about my and my child's right to have everything exactly as we want it. And very little about any responsibilities.

@sleepingstandingup. Then don't leave water standing in the sun all day. They can keep it in their school bags and get 1 bottle out at a time. And no school is not going to allow kids access to water. They might say you come into each lesson with a full bottle and can not leave during the lesson to fill it up.

Omg - come and live in South Africa. Its hot ALL summer and most class rooms do not have aircons. Kids do not get sent home for hot weather. I understand that we are used to the hot weather so perhaps cope a bit better but we do have the opposite every now and again and the temperatures go down to below 5 degrees but even then the kids are not sent home because its too cold.

Only sport and any strenuous activities are cancelled if heat is excessive. Teaching goes on.

Sunscreen however is mandatory. Each kid has to have a bottle in their bags for teachers to reapply during the day if necessary.