“They’ll survive” - children in schools deserve to actually learn

[noblegiraffe]

There have been so many responses to threads about the heat in schools of ‘we survived in 76, kids will be fine’.

It wasn’t even the hottest day yesterday and by mid-morning, very little learning was going on. Kids couldn’t concentrate, even A-level students were making silly mistakes and very, very little work was completed Everyone was extremely uncomfortable and it was more a test of endurance than a place of learning. My classroom was 28 degrees at 8:15am and only got hotter as the day progressed, despite me doing all the right stuff around blinds, windows, doors. The kids were in PE kits and had plenty of water, per government recommendations, but they were not well.

But they survived - so that’s all ok? That’s the best we can expect from schools? No learning and a lot of discomfort/actively feeling ill? And now schools are even having to close.

Bearing in mind that it was only just over 30 yesterday, and given the increasing global temperature, how many more hours of learning will be lost before ‘they survived’ isn’t accepted as the expectation for our kids in schools in the summer and something is actually done about it?

Whether that’s fitting air conditioning (hah), changing the timings of the school day to start earlier and finish earlier when the temperature rises, or changing the school year so the kids break up earlier and go back earlier, something should happen. The country cannot afford to lose all these learning hours and parents and children shouldn’t have to put up with this inadequacy in provision.

Stand corrected but it’s still forecast to be 35c

28 degrees where the school is.

Is it ?

I wasn’t disagreeing with your OP as also a teacher and think something needs to change as schools are not equipped to deal with these temperatures. It’s not safe for kids and certainly not suitable for any learning to occur.

As far as I’m aware, the school year was based around students having August off so the kids were off school to help with the harvest, which clearly isn’t needed today. A shift in the school year is long overdue as our hottest weather is slightly earlier in the summer. Or maybe change to the day structure. Not sure of the answer but just doing what we have always done (because it’s what we have always done) needs to change.

Schools close at the drop of a hat these days, it literally seems like any old excuse and they are shut!

Yeah, I said "Whether that’s fitting air conditioning (hah), changing the timings of the school day to start earlier and finish earlier when the temperature rises, or changing the school year so the kids break up earlier and go back earlier, something should happen."

If any of those things happened, so much more learning would happen in schools.

OP, I agree with you 100%.

I’m in the red warning zone and yes, my classroom was 28 degrees before 8am too.

I took one group outside in the shade and another to a room with air con.

The heat is making me feel ill (underlying health conditions) so if I had to stay in my ridiculously hot room, I’d have had to go home.

Classrooms need air con as much as heating.

I don’t think for a minute children are learning like they would be normally. These hot days are growing more common too so it’s time schools were updated.

That sound awful. I dread what will happen tomorrow.

”they will survive”? But will they? How can we bear to see small children suffering like this?

You may not be aware that schools organise inset days a year in advance.
But now you do.

I can tell you that while the children were sent home early yesterday, the staff were not. It was unbearably hot in our school. That time was used to do all the jobs that nobody ever has time for in a normal school day. I’m fairly new to education and I can assure you that shirking is not something that happens. It is beyond me why some people feel the need to denigrate teaching staff in such a way.

Problem with starting earlier is all the research showing teens do better with a later start to the day (and a later finish). So whats worse - missing a few days learning or a permanent shift to the school day?

Longer lunch breaks arent feasible for those whose school is bloody miles away.

Personally, I'd rather extra funding was spent to make sure DD had the same teacher for a full week in every subject, and wasnt in a composite class - her GCSE class is a mix of GCSE candidates and those in their first year A level... this in a mainstream modern language, in her highly thought of rural state school of 1,000 pupils!

IMO she (& her peers) would do much better with consistent teaching and missing a handful of days for weather related reasons.

Jesus christ, what a comment. Judging and feeling superior excites you, eh. You wouldnt last a second in a boiling miserable classroom, and don't be so bloody rude about teachers, either. Clearly you have zero idea how hard it is to teach.

That is the reality of school life in 1970s buildings.
Thank you for understanding.
My job is not about me, it’s about keeping students safe at school and we don’t have the capacity to cope if masses of students get heat stroke.
For all those judgemental parents, half our students don’t even come to school with a water bottle. That’s how vigilant parents are.

This.
Imagine the poor low paid receptionist who had to take her call.

It’s funny - when children with ADHD can’t learn, because they can’t focus all the year round, how much actual support, do many of them get in school?

A universal earlier start is a good idea.

More than the other kids do, but still not enough.

How much support do they get at home?

Thanks to all the teachers for all they do to help kids learn, it's becoming more and more of a thankless job.

This thread like many others show how little people care about children's welfare and whether children are learning. They would rather children suffer so they can "get one over" on those pesky teachers.

My kids had some excellent teachers and some awful ones. That's life. We also had a couple of unpleasant doctors/dentists/other professionals but somehow teaching seems to be the only profession that the worst members of it are the measure by which it is judged.

My kids went to a large state school. I am not sure I would trust (or wish on) the staff to manage 543 paddling pools and I am fairly sure that a large scale water fight would end with the police being called.

Our school is meant to have PE today - they have been told to take water guns in. Brilliant!

Oh no, everyone was lining up to tell me this was a horrendous idea yesterday

God forbid kids have fun at school towards the end of term 🤣

I think it's only people whose kids go to small or really good schools that would think this was a good idea.
As I mention above, I reckon if my kids' school did this, it would end up with the police being called.

What’s missing in all these debates is that most people don’t have air con at home and schools are cooler than most people’s homes.

Buy spray bottle. Fill with water. Spray self regularly throughout day

I don't think people who say that schools are cooler than most homes actually know what they're talking about.

I take it you don’t live in a tiny south facing flat?
School is definitely cooler than my home

So when you said 'most people's homes' you actually meant 'my home' and you also assumed that the classrooms involved are not tiny, south-facing, and filled with 30 kids.