Anyone else's school shutting this week?

[HiZev]

We just had an email saying they're shutting at lunchtime on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday because of the heat. Seems fairly sensible to me.

@MuddlingThroughLife

If you’re in an office you get access to a fan. Something that kids don’t get. I highly doubt there’s 30 of you squashed in together in that office. I would have had more sympathy if you were a nurse or HCA tbh. Why do you want conditions for kids to be shit, just because your conditions are shit? Although you’re still better off having the breeze of a fan….

When you look at observations, and particularly in cities where heat is absorbed by concrete and similar, heat often peaks later in the day, around 4pm.

PP is correct, temperatures continue to increase after the middle of the day because there's a delay between when the sun provides the most light vs when the heat peaks.

According to the Met Office, where I am temps will peak between 4pm and 5pm on Wednesday and around 2pm on Thursday, with that peak continuing until after 5pm.

So a lunchtime pickup rather than 3pm, or even 5pm, looks sensible.

It 's much warmer a 3-4pm than it is at midday.

Hottest time of the day is usually 3-4 due to thermal inertia.

I don't see how that is relevant to schools for children closing.

In fact surely schools closing and children staying at home should lead to fewer children overheating and having to be brought in to the NHS?

(Additionally re the childcare issue for essential workers, schools could choose to be open to those children, as in Covid, or I would hope most parents would have previously made an effort to get to know someone enough so they could have their children in an emergency if needed.)

Another reason to feel like shit as a working mum! My youngest child’s primary has given the option to pick up early, but we can’t!

Im up north and its not that hot, might pick them up weds and thurs as reckon the bus might be horrible!

I've got a mate who's a teacher, I'm collecting her son as well as mine tomorrow on the assumption that basketball club will be called off (and if it's not it's a bad idea anyway.)

Most folk are happy to take an extra child for a few hours or even a full day if needed.

Theres also massive implications to closing schools.
If you close schools en masse, that's a whole ton of key workers who'll have to stay off work - nurses, doctors, care home workers, supermarket staff, people who work in food manufacturing places for eg, commercial farms.

Everyone who wants schools to close for 3 days. Are you ok with it if your local A&E can't cope with people coming in with severe heatstroke because they are down half their staff. Are you ok with the supermarket shelves being a bit empty next weekend because the suppliers had nobody to deliver to the supermarkets.
Are you ok with your elderly dad's carer not showing up for work for two days leaving him with nobody helping ensure he stays hydrated in the heat.

There are consequences of closing all schools.

They will probably be sitting in the hall watching a movie and spraying themselves with water bottles. It'll be so much nicer then all of them being stuffed in a classroom.

I'm sending DS2 in with a handheld fan and a little spray bottle of water. DS1's school has half the classrooms air conditioned and with Y11 and 13 gone most of their lessons will be in a cool classroom.

Exactly that! They have said children can leave their blazers at home for the rest of the term at dc school! But their still expecting them to wear horrible polyester black trousers, white shirts tucked in and a tie! Ridiculous in this weather. They could have at least said where whatever you want that keeps you cool. Thinking might just ask dc if they want the next 2 days off!

Trust me, from our experience, the DfE are having a laugh. Even the measures they do put in place - full blinds and ceiling fans (though it is NOT aircon) are cheap and don't last. Summer 2 is just totally unbearable. The self cooling they talk of is basically reliant on you opening the windows in the morning and having blinds on the massive suntrap windows down all day - that's it.

What I have noticed in MN is the number of parents who positively don't want to ask favours of others or even get to know neighbours / other parents at all.

Add that to people who won't consider doing favours for others, and we are in a sorry state of affairs where schools can't do the best for their children because there is no one who could possibly look after them.

The whole reciprocal nature of life seems to pass so many by.

I work in schools; I've been made aware today of several schools who have received notice of Ofsted inspections this week, in the red weather warning zone...

Respectfully, most homes don’t have 30 people in each room most of whom are expected to sit on hard plastic chairs all day. Presumably most of your windows open more than 3 inches too

I wouldn't fancy waking up the hill to school and back (there's an uphill in both directions!) At lunchtime after only having dropped them a few hours before. May as well do the whole day or not bother at all!

So fucking fed up of the 'it's just summer' brigade.

It isn't.

There's a 25% chance temperatures will exceed 40 degrees in the south. That is not normal. None of our buildings or transport systems are built for that heat.

And our children certainly aren't. My son's past school age now but has been sent home twice with heatstroke in temperatures that AREN'T this high.

I wouldn't send him into school in a red alert heatwave. Fair play to the schools for closing early.

Our school have just said pe kit all week so far

Absolutely not. We were sent an email today saying DC could wear uniform without blazers and ties or wear PE kit. To take a water bottle, wear suncream etc. Hopefully some DC will stay at home which will make the classes more bearable for the ones that do go in.

And this is at the heart of the mentality, “I suffer, so will you” which is a shame as the people who are actually suffering en masse will be the students. For a parenting site, it can be ante children at times.

And this is at the heart of the mentality, “I suffer, so will you” which is a shame as the people who are actually suffering en masse will be the students. For a parenting site, it can be ante children at times.

Our office is so hot we actually turn the fans off in this weather because they just blow hot air at us. I'm not trying to rile anyone up, we're all hot and bothered 😕

Do you understand that a red weather warning means there's a danger to life?

I think you also have to consider the age range that primary schools have. The 11 year olds will be better able to manage than the reception kids who are still quite little and potentially vulnerable to the heat.

I'm not keeping him off school (just picked him up) , I would be happy if school closed, there's a difference. We also enjoy the beach instead of sitting indoors with the curtains shut, I really don't want to discuss further.