“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.

Theirs is an average (in fact "good") large school.
My point would be that water fights are not practical for 1000 people so any heat-related large-scale solutions need to go deeper than water fights.

(It's also not brilliant to be using large amounts of water in a heatwave but literally no one cares about that)

They also had lead paint and petrol still in the 70s, didn't they? Masses of passive smoking. Corporal punishment. Paedophiles operating in schools because there was no DBS checks.

I wouldn't really be happy with my child's schooling being judged by the standards of 1976.

Not to mention the fact that, obviously the people who say "we survived" are alive to say that, but my parents were at school in 1976 and not all of their friends are still here, by a long stretch.

I would guess art... which is usually over a whole day.
The heat must be getting to some people.
It is perfectly reasonable to say that schools have to be able to provide a decent environment to learn, and in times of increasingly extreme weather, there needs to be some sort of plan!
It is crazy that new build schools don't necessarily have air con (even special schools, where children with medical conditions may be at risk from the heat)
There needs to be a plan ( beyond - open windows, draw blinds, plug in a fan and encourage kids to drink water... which is what we do anyway!)... andbthat plan needs to be sensibly and calmly discussed by all the parties involved - teachers, support staff, parents and kids.
It isn't 1976 and it isn't 'just Summer... the times have changed and the climate is changing... we need to all get on board with that.

This

Yes there is a very prolific ‘teacher’ poster on these boards who posted in Covid that her husband teacher was moaning because he had all those days off ‘teaching remotely’ and couldn’t fully skive because the golf course was shut 😀

Ffs. It’s hot and uncomfortable. It’s harder to concentrate but it’s not a big deal. The teenagers complaining about a stuffy classroom will be the same kids who will stand for hours in a baking hot festival venue to catch a glimpse of whatever band they are obsessed with at the moment.

Get a fucking grip everyone.

It could also be product design,

Not really. If nothing changes, they'll just grow up with that attitude so common on here "if I had to do it, you should have to do it" "Get a grip" "etc"

If they see change, they are more likely to become adaptable thinkers. I know which I would prefer.

Schools need air con. Google tells me that would cost between £50k and £250k according to the number of classrooms etc. I can't even guess how much it would total for all uk schools to install air con (google can't tell me how many state schools there even are) but it would be huge, which I guess is why they haven't done it. It would solve the issue though. Nobody is going to fork out that amount of money.

Don’t forget that women couldn’t have their own bank accounts/credit cards till 1975 when the sex discrimination act was passed. So house prices were obviously more affordable in 1976 but don’t make mistake of thinking a woman could live her 21st century lifestyle in 1976, just with cheaper house prices. At that time, most women who worked were in retail/office admin/factory work/ nursing/teaching. Women in traditional professional jobs were very rare at that time

Mine passed out on the bus yesterday. I’ll tell her to get a grip when she feels better. Nasty

I’ve also passed out in the heat (partly due to my own stupidity of not eating or drinking enough water). I didn’t expect schools to shut in sympathy.

Boomers didn't buy houses until the 80s. In 1976, they were riding around on Raleigh Choppers or bouncing around on spacehoppers or busting their fingers with claquers. It was the silent generation that got the cheapest houses.

Maybe today's kids aren't used to being outside. Perhaps that's part of the problem. They spend too much time in their bedrooms on screens. We played outside and so when the heat wave came, it wasn't such a shock to our systems and we took it in our stride.

No. It's a Level 3 applied diploma - A level equivalent. 3 hours yesterday, 5 hours today. DS tells me they don't have any breaks, I'm hoping he's got that wrong.
To be fair they have been put in a computer room so it's not too warm.

No, that's Gen X. Baby Boomers were teenagers and younger adults in 1976.

I'd think that poster is leaving itself wide open to legal action by the parents of the first child to get heatstroke after having their hat confiscated on their way back inside.

So it hasn’t quite made it to the 30 that was predicted yet, but in my location of South Somerset it is currently sitting at 26. Tomorrow is due to be hotter with a higher humidity so it will rise. See attached screenshot. Also see the attached screenshot showing that even though it’s not quite at 30, it’s still bloody dangerous.

If you are talking about me, my DH is part time and got no extra time off due to Covid - other than no commute. He found adapting to teaching remotely very hard as did many of us but he certainly wasn't playing golf during his actual lessons.

My comments about him moaning about golf were generally light hearted. There was a bit of banter with clav about laptops.

He now moans about being on a golf course with all the WFH crowd. I think he needs his own golf course.

Today it is 34 degrees in his classroom . He is taking early retirement soon so he can play whenever he wants.

If you are talking about me , then I am also not sure what the speech marks are for.

Boomers up to 1965, so some boomers only 11 in 1976.

Most weren't though - and 11 years olds weren't on spacehoppers! (I think anyway!)

That's awful! Hope they're all ok. Of course on here you're just a moaning teacher!

I was 4 and my sister was 2 in 1976. We played outside lots. My mum was so concerned about the heat she sat us in the bath for chunks of the hottest days.

If you are a teacher you must surely be aware of this very comon effect -when one decides to do something others follo ti get the c same attention.
Getting them to sit on the floor -really???????
Shoukd be able to rely on the adult to be calm rather than panicking.

I work in a school that does not have AC and I need to be really clear here - it's like sitting in an oven. It is HOT. Even with the blinds down, fans on, windows open to circulate air - with so many students in a room, it gets sweltering FAST. Schools need to install AC as a matter of urgency, and the Department for Education has to provide the funding to cover the cost.

Schools are not currently safe in this extreme heat and that is why they are closing.