“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.

I imagine my school building is fairly typical being a rebuild of a 1990s building. The insulation is crap! We do have aircon in computer rooms but you are basically air conditioning the world thanks to the shonky walls and windows!

Pupils (and to an extent teachers), are often accused of a lack of resilience, rather than highlighting a lack of resilience in the structures around them (school buildings, overpacked curriculum, viral soups, lack of resources, tickboxing trumping productivity etc).

What is obvious though is the variation. The experience of children isn’t universal. My nephew’s state schools are shut completely for two days, my daughter’s state is doing optional closure at 1 but staying home for those who need it and my other daughter’s prep school is staying open all day and swimming every day to help cool the kids down.

It would feel like a win for the economy and schools if someone in government did a central aircon investment programme where there was funding for every primary to at least have their hall fitted with AC so there was a cool space available somewhere on site. Secondary is a bit more complex but it shouldn’t be out with the wit on man to do something like this that would actually provide work and make conditions better for teachers and children.

why are you making up stories about adults panicking?

Schools are not cooler than most people's homes, and in your own home you can lie naked in a darkened room with a fan on you. There isn't a single room in my house that has 30 people in it raising the temperature even more.

Off topic but not so. Women could get credit and run a business. Women in my family did that since the C19th and they were working class. Working class people rarely had individual bank accounts like we do until the C20th but my Nan had a chequebook before the war as she collected and paid out money. In the earlier days of private bank accounts, banks used to often want couples who had cheque accounts to only use the husband's name on the assumption he was the earner, often asking for his signature if the wife wanted access. But it was normal to have joint accounts by rhe time my parents got married in the early 60s. Women worked. People who didn't want ro use 'cheque accounts' had savings accounts and among the families I knew it was usually the wives who ran it, lots of husbands gave their wage packets to the wife to divvy up and put away. When credit cards became popular, in the early 70s, my Mum had an Access card, not my Dad.

I don't know how old you are but I don't recognise the 1976 you're describing.

Why have I been deleted for reporting the post above mine?

Yes I think so often it’s forgotten that school is the majority of childhood and there should be time for fun and friends. Especially snow days where you can go out and play or very hot days having fun with water fights etc

It is extraordinarily unusual and unlucky to fall with such force during a faint that you sustain a "deep laceration". People who faint through heat exhaustion are more likely to collapse gently.

Regardless of this poor pupil's injury, children are on the whole safer at school than out of it, especially as they are more likely to get up to mischief on a hot day during an unexpected school closure.

School is 190 days per year, for c.7 hours per day. That leave plenty of time for additional fun and friends (including the friends they make at school).

Talking out of her arse:

Bridget Phillipson said: “I know hot weather can be a struggle. But my message to families is simple: if your child’s school is open, you should keep sending them into school. Teachers are relaxing uniform rules, keeping classrooms cool, making sure children are hydrated, teaching critical skills like water safety, and avoiding vigorous activity on the hottest days. If your child has medical needs which mean you’re especially worried about the heat, talk to your school about what they can do.
“Every day of absence and lesson missed has a cost – and that cost falls hardest on our most disadvantaged pupils and working class communities. So, pack a water bottle, put on the sunscreen, and trust that your child’s school has got this.”

I’m not sure your source, but meteologix is quite robust and says it’s lower than that and was earlier too.
https://meteologix.com/au/observations/b81dd63762cb17c3a7f7087fb61e6255/wet-bulb-temperature/20260624-0800z.html

heat is dangerous and should be taken seriously, but that doesn’t mean panic. It means check on your neighbours, stay covered up, drink water and be sensible. For some context on your wet bulb threat to life rating, I’m in Melbourne and the Australian open tennis changed rules in 2015 to pause play for heat at a wet bulb temp of 32.5, and this was trying to tighten the rules after severe heat the previous year saw water bottles melting. The way you make it sound this would never matter as the whole city would be dead instead of at the tennis with the match put on hold.
Noting they now use a 4 point metric that includes wind speed and radiant heat, and at the highest rating of 5 they suspend matches on outside courts, and pause play to close the roof on indoor ones. At this year’s open it hit 44. My youngest was at childcare which was open as usual, they didn’t play outside.

They can also get up to mischief at 3.15 pm on the way home from hot school. In fact, many childhood accidents happen on the way to and from school

The seizure was heat induced.
i work on my own and it can be overwhelming.
our local MIU closes when there is a hint of it getting busy. I am expected to have 50 - 60 students a day, as well as having lots of other jobs to do.
There is no way I could cope today, so thank goodness our school is closed.

I'm not keeping my students cool, Bridget. Because I can't. I fear I may be melting them down.

So a seizure, not fainting? That indicates that there were other factors involved. Young people don't routinely suffer from seizures purely from being hot.

I was using the same website as you, I just zoomed in. 25/26 in North Somerset at 1pm. 24/25 now at 3pm.

No the seizure was on top of the fainting.
we had 2 fainting episodes, the seizure, type one diabetics struggling, a student with a nasty head injury, students who requested medications, students who said they were going to be sick, one who broke her foot the night before - and this was all in the morning!

Fuck off, Bridget.

Teachers aren't human air con and kids aren't learning anything.

You'll be out of a job soon anyway, have you considered teaching?

I can't seem to get this to work!

Where is it highest?

I think i was agreeing with you...

Back in the 70s, you would have been caned for not turning up to school

Sorry, replied to the wrong person!😂