To think schools should shut in 30' heat

[dragonflyglaze]

I'm a TA in an Infant School in the South East, we break up next Thurs. This week has been tough, the little ones can't cope in the heat and as much as we try and keep them indoors, hydrated etc some of them are just not coping. Never mind the staff who are doing their best to support the children whilst slowly melting.
Next week we are forecast to hit 30' and there's an extreme weather warning. We have to close if its too cold e.g. heating not working, or too windy. I can't understand why there's no rule for extreme heat.

I think that they should start earlier and finish earlier. Trying to get any kind of work out of the year 3 class I was in yesterday at 2pm was impossible.

I actually look forward to going to school in this weather as we have air con in all the classrooms and offices. Luckily it is the same at my DD’s nursery.

Hot country here. To get around the summer heat we have much longer summer holidays.
Everyone in the uk already seem to complain about the 6 weeks they get off, so I doubt saying it’s now 10 weeks will please many.
schools here roughly off from end June to Mid September. Generally it only gets above 30 from beginning June potentially so only 1-2 weeks max of warmer temperatures

If the uk is going to get warmer, this seems an ideal solution. No half terms October or May, Easter holiday is also only 4 days long here and move those weeks to July.

@Bonheurdupasse
School summer holidays start in the second week of June in Italy. Last day of term for my daughter’s friend’s school in Spain was 22nd June. Greece starts sometime between Italy and Spain. Schools have already broken up in France. They don’t have to deal with this.

Ah yes, and school is earlier. 7.45-11.45am. No lunch at school. So everyone home
before afternoon heat.

of course in winter it means leaving in dark and parents having to get up super early to shovel snow from driveway, but seems preferable

No. Shouldn't close. There must be certain things that can be done. Getting the blinds sorted would help. A portable air con unit. Loads of rest, shade and water play. Bags of ice. There are things that can be done.

Becoming a nation of victims. Honestly embarrassed for this country. What do people do in hot countries and no they don’t have air con-I’ve been chatting to overseas parents about it.
None of us should have to go to work either 🙄
What about hospitals, they’re hideously warm anyway. Shut them!
I’m pretty sure you’re passing your anxieties onto your kids. My DC is non plussed, you know why? Because I am.

You'd have to be a special kind of sadist to make children wear jumpers and blazers in this weather.

A school shirt is still uniform ffs. No adult is going to be wearing heavy clothes at work unless it's for health and safety reasons.

More people need to stand up to this, write to the school, keep them off or even allow secondary pupils to politely protest over the issue, like refuse to attend lessons and stand with placards outside the school making Tiktok videos about the situation.

My DC is non plussed, you know why? Because I am.

Did your DC describe themselves as nonplussed? Maybe they know what it means and are using it accurately. You should look it up.

My 5YO receptioner is due on a big trip on Monday!

I hope schools don't close, it's cooler at school than home. I live 4 minutes from sandbanks, if schools close we won't be able to get anywhere near the beaches or splash parks.

Parents need to work too.

Ours are also getting daily ice lollies.

I'm sending mine with frozen water, normal water, a fan and a couple of ice blocks

No you can't close bloody schools again!
We all have to work.
Take them to the park & sit under a tree. Give them ice lollies & water?

YABU

But you don't have to keep the same hours all year round.

My friend who lives in southern Spain works shorter hours with an earlier start and finish in July and August.

There are lots of things that can be done to make things a little easier.

So let them relax then? Read them a story & give them a lolly?! 🤷🏻‍♀️

I agree, op. we are currently off observing our religious holiday and the kids are back in tomorrow and I just dread the school run as it's a lot of walking and a lot of uphill and I dont drive and I just about make it without dying....
It's over 34 apparently on Monday and i can't think of anything worse. Plus sports day is coming up and i actually feel sick for them having to do it in the baking heat.

This has reminded me that Y10 DS is doing extra curricular activities next week. He'll be ok at his age but I do not want the school keeping them outside team building in uniform at 2pm. <<composes e-mail>>

If you're waiting for blinds, paper the windows to give some shade - use some of your class's drawings/ a big countdown to the end of term or similar - can either be an activity with the children or something just the teachers quickly do.

Brilliant idea.

I was at school in the 1976 heatwave, the caretaker painted the classroom windows with that special white paint that grocers used to paint prices in their windows, I think gardeners also used something similar to paint greenhouse windows to create shade in summer. It just wipes off afterwards.

@minuette1 so true!! We don't have a garden let alone a paddling pool and our flat is sheer hell in the summer. I feel so bad for my dd.

French schools and Lycees have knocked off now but for info this year we've already been through two very hot periods and the education system has had to function..

Temperatures got into the low 30's in parts of southern France in May, when schools etc were in full swing, then into the high 30s (37 plus in places) in June when only some elements of the school system had knocked off for the summer hols.

My dd came home from school on Monday saying the cheese in her sandwich had turned ‘gooey’. Apparently the packed lunches are stored right under the window, but I guess I was partly to blame too because I didn’t put an ice pack in. She still ate it though because she was afraid of getting told off by the lunch box police! Yuck! Anyway, yesterday was another fail because I put an ice pack in but somehow the condensation from it made her bread soggy. Today she wants the school roast dinner!

True but children from those other countries are acclimated to the heat, the schools in those countries often have adjustments for the temperature (different hours for instance to avoid the hottest parts of the day). Our children are not used to the heat.

On top of that some countries with extreme heat DO shut their schools down if the weather is too hot. Some states in India sent children home for 2 weeks of home learning due to extreme heat and changed their schooling hours short term. In many countries they start school earlier and/or have a long break in the middle of the day when it's hottest and then leave school later. Many of them have different school holidays to avoid the hotter parts of the year too, in Greece they break up a month earlier for instance. Schools in other countries don't just cope like we do - they have made adjustments to deal with the heat.

It never comes across well when school staff call for school closures on MN.
As a TA, I am surprised you want schools to close. You will know the repercussions for children and family.

I’d support not closing but a message saying they won’t be doing any formal learning, send in own clothes and keep them off if you like.

It's madness. Who are these parents suggesting we should close schools anybody would think the heat has been happening for a month. Are you all working from home?

I'm shocked I work in a hospital and I use breakfast club too. I'd be screwed if the schools shut.

Then perhaps we need to find a way to live with these temperatures. Very few schools have decent fans, shaded areas, access to water play, regular breaks.

People have always lived with it though. I’m in a country where 30 is not classed as hot (I wouldn’t put my air con on at 30). Occasionally we get over 40 where I am, and regularly over 35 in summer as standard. None of this is different to when I was a child several decades ago. We happily went to schools with minimal shade, no air con in classes, no knowledge about importance of water (indeed no individual water bottles back then, we drank minimally from metal bubblers in full sun giving hot water), no such thing as hats and sunscreen policy or use and we ran around in full sun like loons. While most of us are certainly paying the price now with skin cancer, the reality is no kid melted, got heatstroke or was unable to learn in a hot classroom. Kids take the lead from parents expectations.