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.

What's their logic by refusing to allow children to apply suncream?

How would they chill jugs of water for hundreds of children

We have water machines in school which dispense cold or even colder water.
The children help themselves to fill up their water bottles.

@jennymanara I was making the point re water that no it doesn't have to be ice cold, but it sensibly (however its provided) needs to be left somewhere cool.

Re classroom to classroom, it's primary school, I doubt there's much movement. Drink when thry get to school, play time, lunch time, mid afternoon, whilst waiting to be collected.
Presumably secondary school doesn't have this issue as they have access to their lockers, school bags etc every hour

@mikkyr this is the UK, we don't deal well with anything extreme weather wise. Its like every winter the snow is a surprise and we wonder why no one invented anything to grit the roads... And whilst this weather is SA might be a cool day to you, it IS extreme here where things like can teachers put on sun block and can someone go get some jugs of water causes pages of contention.

like every winter the snow is a surprise and we wonder why no one invented anything to grit the roads.

It’s not even like that though. It might be every 3/4 years, you get enough snow that hundreds of schools are closed and the roads aren’t save to drive. That lasts for maybe 2/3 days.

It’s not something that is definitely going to happen and it will probably only be very short-lived. That’s why we aren’t good at coping.

@sleepingstandingup I disagree with you about this.

My kids school doesn’t have air conditioning, there are kids (and parents) with asthma. People still get on with their lives

@jennymanara OK

@fedup21 it's been every year the last few years, possibly excluding last winter. Well have snow warnings for days. Then it'll snow, and nothings been gritted. However maybe our poor local councils are. Just crap, I'll concede thst point.

@SleepingStandingUp I get that its the UK ... I lived there for 8 years.

I often come onto mumsnet just to put a bit of perspective on things. Most of the complaints here are real first world problems :)

My family (parents, brother, sister) live in the UK and even I had them whingeing on our family group and I quote 'The heat is horrible'!

I gently reminded them of their life pre-UK bliss and they were quick to retract.

I struggle with the heat at the moment. I hate it. But I know realistically it is not a big deal in the grand scheme of things.

I actually have a close relative with an Indian family still in India. She told me a few years ago when there was coverage of a heat wave in Britain, her mum phoned her up very concerned. She told her mum the temperature which was less than the ordinary temperature her mum was used to living in. Her mum was gobsmacked.

I gently reminded them of their life pre-UK bliss and they were quick to retract very reasonable point. This is still extreme weather tho, otherwise it wouldn't be one of the hottest days in UK history and some of us have never lived anywhere else so we have no weather perspective

I'm all for sending hats and sun cream in but I know when ds1 was in primary getting him to wear his hat (not just him)
Ide constantly ask his teacher please tell him to get his hat before break/lunch. Same as you would do coats in winter.
What annoys me is when secondary school expect kids to wear their blazers to school in this heat just so then the head can decide weather they can remove them or not once they are there.

@SleepingStandingUp absolutely. It’s about perspective and reference.

Having lived in both places I have come to realise that it is simply part of the human condition to moan about something.

My mom moans about a pothole that isn’t fixed for a month. We moan about potholes big enough to swallow a small car.
You guys moan about Boris. Do yourselves a favor and google a certain Jacob Zuma.

I do remember my first summer in London, it was a scorcher and London had an hour long power outage and I was stuck underground on a tube. I thought I was going to die. And speaking of power outages... reminds me of load shedding here in SA google that.

Before i moved to england i lived somewhere colder. The first year we lived here i fainted in the scorching summer heat. It was .....22 degrees. I had never experienced heat like it. i also had a note from my mum asking the school to let me stay inside during the heat.
Ive got quite used to the hot English weather now though.

You guys moan about Boris. Do yourselves a favor and google a certain Jacob Zuma
It isn't a race to the bottom though or can people only be unhappy if no one has it worse than them?

@SleepingStandingUp nope not a race at all. But it is worth bearing in mind that there are places worse off than the ‘worst’ you have experienced, just for the sake of gaining perspective.

Anyway, you seem very serious. I’m making light of things. Have a good day.

Jugs of water? No need. Every child brings a bottle to school and refills throughput the day. Throughout the year, not just summer. They can ask for a drink at any time during a lesson too. Sun cream can be brought in but we can’t apply it , the child has to. We do help them by directing them.Most have those stick ones so less mess.

@mikkyr of course, bit the well it could be worse is what leads to complacency. Anyway I'm just hot, pregnant and grumpy Boris is our new lord and master😡

Over 30C happens most summers for a few days, at least in the south. It is not extreme weather anymore.

As for schools, I'm in favour of what happens in South Africa (water and cancelled sport).