Should school be opening without hot water?

[potatooo]

Just that - our local primary school has no hot water due to broken system - heating on though. It’s freezing and snowing here, so at least they’re warm. BUT isn’t it gross to have not hot water and remain open? Proper hand washing/washing dishes surely needs hot water??

Proper handwashing can be done in cold water, with soap.

Dishes I would imagine go through an industrial dishwasher which heats the water?

Hse workplace requires adequate facilities; listed as hot and cold running water.

So no probably shouldn’t be open.

Apparently the dishwasher isn’t working either

Oh 😕 what will they do then? Guess everyone could bring packed lunch for a couple of days but when will it get fixed?

Yes I presume packed lunches - maybe im being precious but I just think it’s a recipe for an outbreak of something infectious

Could the school provide hand sanitiser in the loos?

How many children do you think wash their hands let alone wait for the water to run warm/hot??

I guess it will make f'all difference to the bugs going around.

the adults should know its technique not temperature that does the cleaning! It's unpleasant not unhygienic.

When I worked in a Scottish secondary, the school closed when there was no hot water.

I don’t think it will make a difference. Schools are filthy germ fests anyway. Better for them to be at school and learn. Hard for parents to just take days off work on a whim

The school should be closed until the hot water is fixed. The school senior staff are showing poor leadership. The local environmental officer should be made aware and advise the school head teacher to close.

Primary school kids rarely use hot water to wash hands - mine always choose the cold tap wherever we are, which is fine by me as the soaps the important part. In fact, I use the cold tap too.

So yes, I think kids at school takes preference here and the school have made the right choice.

I don't think it'll make any difference whatsoever to hand washing. I reckon 90% don't wash their hands at all and the ones that do wave their fingertips under the tap for three seconds. Kids are gross.

Presumably the kitchen staff can boil water for washing up...but maybe not practical if the dishwasher is broken and they're expected to do hundreds of plates and all the trays by hand!

Generally, I'd leave the decision to the people in the know.

I have always washed my hands with cold water.
Its the soap that gets rid of bugs not warm water

Same with plates / Cutlery
Its the washing up liquid not the temperature of water that gets rid of bugs / Germs / Food particles etc

It isnt possible to use hot enough water to kill bugs, it would burn your skin

Are you a teacher hoping for the day off OP?

little kids are crap at washing their hands anyway! It’s odd the dishwasher has broken down though, as they have their own element for heating. Bit irritating for the teachers not having running hot water though, guess they’ll have to either boil the kettle multiple times a day or keep the urn chugging away (depending on what they use).

I'd be appreciative of the school working to stay open in these circumstances, it's really hard as a parent to get emergency leave. They sound quite resourceful.

And if the school closed there would be numerous complaints about that instead

School is in a lose lose situation here.

Yes of course. Other than hand washing (which can be done with cold) there’s no issue - might need packed lunches as mentioned or disposable plates/utensils.
I think you overestimate how many kids actually wash their hands - and no one is catching a cold from the bathroom it’s wiping noses with their hands and they aren’t washing hands all day.

Do you always wait for the water to run hot before washing your hands? I didn't know that was even a thing.

Of course they should stay open. It wouldn’t even enter my head that they couldn’t

Its so hard for loads of parents to take time off that I think on balance they're right to stay open. Kids don't wash hands in water hot enough to make a difference to bugs. Boil water for washing up in and packed lunch.

I have worked in a large secondary school once which had a problem with the hot water supply for a few days. At no time was closing the school considered, we just got on with it. As people have said, handwashing can be effective just using soap in cold water, crockery can also be washed in cold water although I guess greasy pans would be more of a problem. We contacted parents to tell them about the lack of hot water mainly because it meant no showers after PE, which delighted most of the pupils! School dinners were restricted to cold foods and paper plates to make things easier for the kitchen staff but as we had a high percentage on free school meals, asking parents to provide a packed lunch was not possible although I think a few did.

It was precovid when hand sanitiser was not in common use and we all survived without any problems. Environmental Health were involved in this decision. It really had no impact on me as a teacher, in fact I preferred the cold meal options to the hot ones!

I remember my kids being at a Scottish primary when it was supercold in 2009. The boiler broke & the (extremely unpleasant) Head phoned all parents to remind them rhey had a duty to bring their children in. I put my kids in rhe car. It was minus 18. I got them back out & phoned school to advise: 'No'.

OP have you ever supervised or watched a group of primary school children visiting the toilet?

They do not diligently run the water until it is hot, use soap properly and then dry their hand efficiently, quaint though that image would be.

At best it's two seconds under cold water and a quick wipe of the hands on their jumper or sweatshirt before running off to play.

They will survive, and parents won't need to be stressed about childcare.

If you think that primary school children are bas at washing their hands. Don't even think about what secondary school children are like.

And that they take food into the stalls with them to eat.