AIBU to say NO to sending my Child to School when there is no Electric?

[Kassy69]

Should my DD be allowed to still go to school when there is no heating or Electric?

Views/Opinions or experience if this has happened to your childs school.

witsender I did not even think about the safety aspect re Fire Alarm, could not call the school as the phone system did not work to get any kind of update on Wednesday.

Trifle my DC wear glasses and I'm maybe more wary than average about adequate light levels when they are reading/writing. If it was getting a bit dim I'd expect teachers to move towards class discussion, working in their talk partners or PE outside. Anything where they're not struggling to focus on text.

Aww your poor Dd thats such a shame if it happens again contact the school and say last time she wet herself im not sending her.

Helena: Not always possible to plan for this - if a teacher finds out in the morning that there is no light, when in the course of the day do you expect them to re-plan meaningful activities that make no use of the resources they have prepared? P.E. might work but when it's cold and you have no electricity or heating, I am not sure getting the kids changed is the best idea

I think it would be a H&S issue

School should be a happy place for dcs. Going to the toilet in the dark is scary and shouldn't be happening.
I wouldn't even consider sending my dc into school in this situation.
School is not compulsory at 4 and you are not obliged to send her.

I can see why you'd keep her off, OP.

If the phone system was down I'd be wondering what plans the school had in place for contacting parents en masse in an emergency.

It's all good and well saying the school made an assessment and decided it was safe but some schools will stay open at all costs. I remember one time when I was at school and it started to snow really bad during the day. All the roads ended up closed, no public transport and parents struggled to pick up. It was in the local paper afterwards that the school had been advised early to lose but insisted it would be fine.

Our school toilets are pretty dark if the lights are off. I'd not be happy with children having to use them.

Also the schools meals may be delivered but how will they be kept heated with no electricity?

And then there's the issue of hygiene. Cold water for hand washing isn't ideal.

Our school is absolutely freezing if the heating is off in this kind of weather.

(I think mains fire alarms have a back up source as electricity is often knocked out in the event of a fire)

Also you have the question of teaching Unions where teachers are expected to work below minimum temperature.

The School did not contact parents until updating the website about 5.30pm that night and it was still unclear whether the electric was back on.

I thought I was being overprotective and a bit unreasonable when I questioned the teacher about the lack of communication, but clearly I was not!!!!

This is reminding me of winters in my old convent school, with its old and inefficient oil radiators and unglazed sash windows. The temperature in the classroom read 9° C once, I recall.

In this instance I'm very surprised that the school hasn't shut. Where I am (Glasgow) it would be standard procedure. If I were the OP I would be keeping my DD off. My own DDs were still at playgroup at 4 anyway; school isn't compulsory at that age.

Legally your dd does not need to go to school till the term after her 5th birthday. Just keep her off.

I'd send mine. I haven't got my heating on at home today. I've got a jumper on and I'm not cold.

There is no legal limit for how cold a room can be for children in school.
But there is a legal limit for how cold the room can be for teachers to work in, and usually the unions will say the classroom cannot be used if it is too cold.
Unfortunately this sometimes ends up with worse situation, eg kids taught in the hall, because it isn't so cold.

(as a ex teacher in a school with crap heating, I know this quite well, to be fair, we pulled th eunion card because we thoguht it was toocold for the kids, not because we were being bolshy)

There are rules about schools having to be a certain temperature within 20 minutes (or an hour, something like that) of opening, if it's not warm enough the school has to close. We were all called to pick up kids last winter when the heating packed in.

If the school is warm enough but there's no electric, that's a separate issue. It wouldn't particularly bother me or my kids, but a nightmare for the teachers not being able to use any computers or smartboards.

For those saying 'it's not that cold', I'm near Manchester and it's 4 degrees at the moment with sleet and quite dark. I would not want my DC's in school with no heat or light.

The (coal powered) boilers used to go wrong about once a year at my primary, usually in the coldest days of January!
We were told to keep our coats on, and found it quite fun!

This used to happen regularly in my old primary school (days of yore, obvs). We had to go in, but after an hour the teachers would take the temperature, obviously it would then be too cold, and then we'd be sent home. Used to drive DM insane because she'd never know if she'd get a phone call on a Monday to come back and pick me up.

Personally, and I'm not a fan of making a fuss, I'd phone the council. There are massive h&s issues around this. Don't they have a minimum temp requirement any more?

If it was a school here they'd close today. We have snow and it's practically dark. No way they could manage without electricity. Heating possibly but unlikely if temp drops below 16°c inside.

at dds primary school the electricity has gone off quite often, and they just keep going, not really an issue.

Your poor DD

I can imagine the toilets will be darker as most probably don't even have windows. That's a H&S issue right there. The school was lucky no one slipped on a wet patch in the darkness.

I took DS (5) to a public type toilets and couldn't find the lights (it was my family's business so they were already closed to the public and were closing up for the night) tbh it was about 5pm so was already getting dark but it was much darker in there due to the windows being behind the cubicles. I had to keep the cubicle door open next to the sink with my foot so that we could see washing our hands. DS was quite scared and I felt awful I couldn't find the lights but he needed a wee asap! I'll admit it was quite spooky and can imagine a small child being scared.

This from the HSE: "The law does not state a minimum or maximum temperature, but the temperature in workrooms should normally be at least: 16°C, or 13°C if much of the work involves rigorous physical effort."

If there's no heating at all, I'm assuming ambient temperature would be lower than this, therefore it would be unreasonable to expect a teacher to work in it, and no teacher = no class.

I wouldn't send me child if there was no heating at all

Dark toilets can be resolved by using portable battery powered lighting. Fire alarms have battery backup, many new lighting systems have battery backup though old systems may not.

Heating is an issue as most rely on an electric pump to push water through radiators.

It depends on what measures are in place to keep facilities open.

Where I am in the south the school closes for all sorts of things even a bit of snow.