Very cold classrooms

[ZolaGrey]

My 10 year older daughter just got in the car after school and she is frozen, her lips are chapped and her fingers are freezing.

It turns out that the school have decided not to heat the classrooms and that all doors and windows have to be open all the time, it's been around 3-6° all day here. She's had her coat on all day.

I've said that she could take a hoodie or similar in tomorrow but she said they're not allowed as it's not uniform, they have however been told they can wear hats, scarves and fingerless gloves in the classroom

I would imagine that if I kept my house unheated, with all the doors and windows open all the time that I would be accused of some kind of neglect.

Am I right to be unhappy about the set up? I'm a bit over stressed at the minute so I'm not sure how reasoned my reactions are to things currently!

How are everybody else's school approaching this? Has anybody had any logics information to back up this approach?

Either they need to back the measures schools have been told by the DFe to take

No problem with that, but the lack of flexibility on uniform is ridiculous.

Coincidently the amount of staff and pupils suffering from coughs and colds is minuscule compared to a normal November.
Obviously this could also be linked to the increased hand washing, table wiping and general hygiene

Unfortunately not something I've noticed at my infant school.
From day 1 in September we have had children with all sorts of coughs, colds and bugs.

I caught my first cold about a week age returning to school in September, after working from home since March (as CV so didn't go in before.). Had another couple of bugs since then, and then the last one turned about to be covid.

We don't seem to have had as many d and v type bugs though, which is probably helped by the increased hand hygiene etc

It's little things that with a bit of compromise,common sense and leniency can keep both parties safe and mostly happy.

Exactly

@SaltyAF

If classrooms are not safe without inadequate and potentially dangerous conditions then they should not be open.

🤦 Well yes, but they are (and Mumsnetters demanded this).

This.

Please buy thermal stuff for your kids. We deserve the small mitigation that opening windows a few centimetres gives.

Uniform has been relaxed at my school. Extra layers welcome and boots allowed. Our heating system involves warmed air being recirculated/blown around the room so it’s not on because it would spread any virus present around everyone. We put it on before children come in and when the classroom is empty for some of lunchtime after it has been ventilated. But it can’t be on when the room is in use. Some other classrooms have normal hot water radiators so they are warmer. The staff in the hot air classrooms are dreading the colder months but we have vulnerable staff so ventilation trumps heating in the risk assessment. We would have needed extra funding from the government to replace the air heaters. The government have given schools no additional funding to ensure we can ventilate and heat adequately and have insisted that vulnerable staff remain working in classrooms without social distancing. Rock and hard place.

Far more colds than usual with my kids this year. The months off school didn’t do their immune systems any good at all.

comeonbabyhauntmybubble Our school can barely afford to buy books, where do you think we have the money to heat classrooms with the windows open?

While I do think some leniency on uniform could be allowed we had an inspection before half-term to ensure we were following guidelines and the importance of school being as normal as possible (including rules) was impressed.

In my classroom we have a few windows and internal doors open whilst we're inside then at playtime all the windows and doors open to ventilate the room. It's a trust policy. Underfloor heating is on and most of my pupils have been wearing long sleeved vests under polo shirts. Is a bit chilly but more than bearable.

@Witchcraftandhokum

comeonbabyhauntmybubble Our school can barely afford to buy books, where do you think we have the money to heat classrooms with the windows open?

While I do think some leniency on uniform could be allowed we had an inspection before half-term to ensure we were following guidelines and the importance of school being as normal as possible (including rules) was impressed.

So what does your school plan to do when it's 0 degrees? -2? -5? -10?

How can children concentrate if they're sitting in a classroom, shivering?

This would be a step too far for me. If I hadn't already withdrawn my children from school due to the increased risk of Covid I'd be doing so now.

I'd advise ignoring all uniform rules and going for comfort over conformity.

Our junior school have advised layers under uniform and fleeces over the school uniform sweater to keep warm. I have 2 boys aged 10 and 11 but clothing sizes are usually 13 to 14 years. Beginning of the week I ordered 4 plain black fleeces from 2 different companies. 2 in size 13 years and 2 in size 14 years. Both companies charged £5 delivery. Both parcels have arrived. None of the fleeces fit as they are very small and I have to pay return delivery for refunds and my boys do not have a warmm layer for Monday. Going to try small adult sizes.

We are rammed in like bloody sardines in my classroom - as we are not allowed to sit them in table groups and have to have them in lines and there isn’t the room to do this, the children are centimetres away from the children in front, behind and either side of them (basically could sit them in table groups and have the same contact). It’s absolute rubbish, I shut the windows and close the doors when it’s cold and whack the heating on. If one of us gets it, we are all isolating anyway. Bollocks letting my children be uncomfortable (and me for that matter!) they can’t learn if they are too busy thinking about being cold and they can’t produce quality work if their fingers are too cold to write. They may as well not be in school.

Jeez it’s all a bit melodramatic isn’t it? I think some of you are just looking for something to complain about!

Just layer up- a t shirt won’t cut it, proper thermals. Lidl have some at the moment very cheaply.

Look for solutions rather than problems all the time. Schools are doing their best. It’s a fookin nightmare (I’m a teacher). No one wants miserable kids. Give them the benefit of the doubt please! Our poor head was dealing with all sorts of COVID contact stuff all weekend as we’ve had a few positive cases. He’s had no break really since March. Exhausting.

Windows should be open, heating on if possible. Schools should be sensible about uniform- I would insist on that. Pragmatic.

Go and enjoy your day everyone and stop getting so ANGRY! It’s like “usforthem” - not happy unless they’re moaning.

@thegreenlight it’s not as easy to be casual about inevitably catching covid when you’re vulnerable.

Melodramatic?
I used to work in a car showroom, and one winter, when it was consistently below 0C, there was a problem with the automatic doors which jammed open every time a leaf flew by. My desk was right between the door to the showroom and the door to the workshop.
I wore thermal vest and leggings, a shirt, a blazer, a fleece, a heavy outdoor jacket, a scarf, two pairs of socks and had a little heater under my desk.
I was still chilled to my bones all day and ended up very sick as I couldn’t shake off a common cold being so cold every single day.
I certainly wouldn’t want my child to be forced into that position, especially if the school won’t be reasonable about what extra items of clothing are allowed

@Youseethethingis that sounds hellish! But yes you are being melodramatic as they won’t allow that to happen in schools. The windows in all my rooms only open 6 inches! Classrooms are (a lot) smaller than car showrooms and with a lot of bodies in to warm them up. It really won’t get that bad. Teachers and heads aren’t out to get the kids you know!

They don't have a choice. Ventilation is one of the only things they can do to stop the spread of covid.

Get her some thermal leggings and long sleeved thermal top. If her uniform has jumpers and cardis, wear both at once.

Glitterynails I have 34 9 year olds in my classroom. We are so crammed in, opening the windows will make no difference at all. Because of the seating arrangements I have to follow, I now have about 30cm between me and the front row of children. I can’t sit down any more because my chair has been removed as there is no room for it between the whiteboard and the front row of children. It’s this close proximity that will ensure I catch covid, not closing a few bloody windows when it’s freezing cold!

@Goingdooolally

Jeez it’s all a bit melodramatic isn’t it? I think some of you are just looking for something to complain about!

Just layer up- a t shirt won’t cut it, proper thermals. Lidl have some at the moment very cheaply.

Look for solutions rather than problems all the time. Schools are doing their best. It’s a fookin nightmare (I’m a teacher). No one wants miserable kids. Give them the benefit of the doubt please! Our poor head was dealing with all sorts of COVID contact stuff all weekend as we’ve had a few positive cases. He’s had no break really since March. Exhausting.

Windows should be open, heating on if possible. Schools should be sensible about uniform- I would insist on that. Pragmatic.

Go and enjoy your day everyone and stop getting so ANGRY! It’s like “usforthem” - not happy unless they’re moaning.

In case you haven't noticed people are angry,or more like concerned when the windows are open,no heating on and no relaxation of school uniform rules.

All schools in my area have their windows open (as they should). That is not the issue.

However, some have heating on all the time,some have heating on in the morning, some have heating on but on low and adjusted uniform rules,some don't have heating on but boots, comfortable warm clothes are allowed(a lot of the children wear tracksuit bottoms).Various combinations depending on what works for the schools,children,parents.

Having absolutely no flexibility and compromise is what is causing issues.

@ComeOnBabyHauntMyBubble well obviously I’ve noticed hence my post!

My point was - windows are staying open for the health of all. We need to find solutions to this. Mine is - layer up and relax uniform rules. That’s what my own kids (and myself as a teacher) are doing (their school has pretty much done away with uniform).

I just wanted to say teachers and heads are not the enemy. We want the kids to be happy and learn. So speak your the schools in a positive, solution focused way! 💗

Send her in a jumper under her coat, how will they even know? And the teacher would have some bollocks to make her take a jumper off when its freezing. Being cold is no good for our immune system so it's not really a reasonable adjustment.
Get her some of those hand warmers that get hot just from being opened.

I suppose the upside of this is that apparently schools don’t need heating because the classrooms never get that cold anyway, so that gives back a bit of budget flexibility in the years to come.

It's crazy. I'm a highly vulnerable teacher and my only protection against covid is open windows and a bit of handgel. Secondary, so I see a few hundred fully grown teens each week through my classroom packed together with no social distancing.
I don't know how I'll cope because the health condition that makes me vulnerable is worse in the cold.
The kids are complaining we should have just moved school online for their age group.
I'm letting them wear whatever they need to keep warm, but apparently the Deputy Head is still putting them in detention if their coats don't conform to the uniform policy or they wear a hoody under their blazer.