“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.

What’s the relevance to this discussion?

The whole idea of fainting involves being unconscious which means you drop to the floor with no control of what you hit or where you land.

In terms of heat I might be happy to take risks for myself or my children. But if I were a teacher or a headteacher, in charge of 30 / 100s of children, my approach to risk would be quite different. "People are likely to collapse gently and would be extraordinarily unlucky to sustain injury" might not cut it.

Yeah, winter or summer, no need for drama, as they arrive once a year. Best just get on with both.

Does your childcare setting have air conditioning?

Oh I don’t know. I’m so “cool” I radiate ice.

Surely the best thing to learn from this situation is that you can no more change the weather today than Canute could turn back the tides?

My work aren't wankers, therefore they expect us to do what we can to keep comfortable and do what we can to work.

We don't have to be productive all the time.

Seriously though, I have now found out we are fully closing tomorrow and half day Friday. SLT went round with thermometers P4 and the highest temp recorded was 43 (according to BBC, West Mids is just 33). If it’s serious enough for my school to close, it must be bad!

Ok Boomer.

Must be a relief! 43 is insane.

I don't think I've ever seen a better use of the term... very satisfying! 😂

I so wish the laughing emoji still
existed.

Do you understand that we do training on inset days, they aren't just a jolly? Training that is carefully planned sequenced and often involves external speakers?

Tell me that a teacher didn’t just say that..,

It was a play on words of the original poster's name.

Puns = humour.

Oh yeah, I scrolled back a bit.

I do get fed up of people dismissing other summer heatwaves. Like this one is hot but this has been 5 days and only going to be 2 days of above ‘76 temps Then and then back to the normal low 20,s next week,
The hot summer of 76 went on forever.

Some of the comments on this thread are wild.
We aren’t meant to spank our children- but keeping them in a dangerously hot room until they vomit or pass out is fine!
If the small children can’t be kept safe in an overly hot classroom the school has no choice but to close. In my opinion.

My childcare does, I’m not suggesting uk childcare’s shouldn’t close at 40+ degrees or at red ratings whatever the temperature is, and I supported to give some childcare staff the day off to care for relatives, as vulnerable people are at risk in heat. The tube also gets oppressive very quickly, I wouldn’t want to go in it much over 30. But outdoors here is not air conditioned, to state the obvious and lots of people getting around in it. I was a bit surprised to see construction workers at work on a house build, I went for an afternoon walk near where I had to collect one son that day. My whole point was directed at the posters saying we are at wet bulb 25 this is close to wet bulb 30 and wet bulb 35 is danger to life so so is 30… this is just panic mode.

Look, it’s hot. People need to be sensible. Not panic. I spent years living somewhere as a child with regular wet bulb 26, limited aircon and none at school and thats a normal day. The uk isn’t built for it so it’s not just a standard day but nor is it panic stations - teachers should assess air flow and temp, obviously not require children to wear blazers,
open windows and take breaks if the classroom is too hot, people should observe warnings where they are active, be sensible, and unfortunately think about handling this much more often on our warming planet.

So, I assessed airflow yesterday : none. Temperature= 33 degrees in classroom. No blazers.

What then?

"take a break"

Presumably for the whole lesson because that airflow ain't improving...

Can't say I'm too confident opening a window would achieve much either, notwithstanding that in some classrooms that's not possible. If its as hot or hotter outside, what would it achieve?

If you have the blinds down they completely cover the windows so opening the windows doesn't do anything for airflow anyway. If you have the blinds up, the sun comes in and everyone is boiled and they can't see the board.

Schools are quite likely to be hotter than homes.

At home you can open the windows early morning and late at night when it’s cooler to replace the air, then keep shut in the heat of day . But schools are shut at these cooler times.

At home you may well have thick curtains you can draw to block out the worst of the sun, unlikely at a school.

At home many people have bought fans or even portable ac units, schools don’t have budget for this and would need larger more expensive units to work for their larger spaces and more people.

On the other hand some schools have modern air conditioned buildings. Unfortunately not many.

i know plenty of people had joint accounts in the 60s, but that is not the same as a woman having her own account
Prior to the 1975 act women could get credit cards but needed the application to be counter signed by their husband, this was also the case for bank accounts.
You may not not “recognise “what I’m saying , but you must surely realise that everyone has different experiences.
however , my point stands that there are clearly many people who seem to think that they could have lived a 21 century lifestyle in the 1970s and that patently isn’t true

Our new build is basically an orangery. We've had to close it today because the heat has cracked some of the glass. And we're not in the red zone.