School buildings are not fit for purpose

[noblegiraffe]

It seems to have come as a surprise to some this week that the vast majority of classrooms are not air conditioned and that teaching and learning are hugely reduced during the last weeks of term due to unacceptable temperatures and ventilation levels in classrooms (before you even factor in the heatwave of next week). The DfE's advice for schools during the heat is not about how to enable effective education to continue, but how to monitor children for signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke, and what to do if a child succumbs. educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2022/07/14/advice-for-schools-and-other-education-settings-during-a-heatwave/

Don't think they're any better in winter though, freezing classrooms saw kids in coats and hats struggling to learn with windows open for covid while the heating was turned off due to cost. inews.co.uk/news/education/schools-keep-classroom-windows-open-snowing-outside-lack-air-purifiers-1393032 (this will get worse as energy bills have shot up. My school usually turns the heating off at midday in the winter, I can imagine this will be cut even shorter.)

The government have also rejected calls for sprinklers in schools, so they are not safe in the event of a fire schoolsweek.co.uk/dfe-snubs-calls-for-sprinklers-in-all-new-schools/

The DfE also think that Grenfell-style cladding is suitable for schools www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9636127/Grenfell-insulation-70-schools.html

The repair bill to bring schools up to a satisfactory safety standard is £11.4 billion, according to the DfE. www.theguardian.com/education/2021/may/27/repair-bill-for-schools-in-england-doubles-to-over-11bn-finds-survey

Schools are also riddled with asbestos that isn't being managed safely. The response is that asbestos inspections will start in September www.tes.com/magazine/news/general/schools-face-asbestos-inspections

Given that these buildings are where we send our children to for a large part of their childhood, this is outrageous. Shouldn't we have safe buildings where education can actually take place?

Unsafe and unfit for purpose. Our kids deserve better.

Hi, person who voted that IABU. Is it because, despite the links given, you think that schools are fit for purpose, or do you think that kids don’t deserve any better?

We have a 5 year old new build. It looks like a greenhouse and the mechanical ventilation has never worked. It's unpleasantly hot even in winter. This week it was grim.

My dc’s school is quite old. It’s also a nightmare to navigate because you can’t enter a classroom from the inside without going through another classroom to get to it.

It is very poorly insulated. It is essentially an oven in summer, and a freezer in the winter.

It is a small school and there is no more than 100 pupils in the entire school but still. I’ll see if I can find some pictures without giving away what the school is

Or perhaps they don’t agree with the style of argument used. Or the case closed, “fait accompli” way of setting this up.

I actually agree with you. But there will be others who will struggle to work with the whole premise when no ready solutions are offered either other than “spend more”.

Sure but what do you want us to DO? Apart from not vote Tory (most of us don't anyway)

This!

Yes, that might have something to do with it. The combative tone.

This is only picture I can find really. As you can see, it’s one big square corridor type

But there will be others who will struggle to work with the whole premise when no ready solutions are offered either other than “spend more”.

Not being in favour of spending more on education is effectively saying that children don’t deserve better, isn’t it?

"no ready solutions are offered either other than “spend more”."

What "ready solutions" are you thinking of?

I might think about another career if I were you. You only live once, and teaching seems to make you miserable 💐

Actually, I can make a start! One thing that would help is posters on MN not leaping in on threads about potentially closing schools early during 40 degree temperatures and accusing the staff of being snowflakes.

Yes, that might have something to do with it. The combative tone.

Indeed, and the implication it is somehow the fault of mumsnetters who just expect their kids to be able to go to school and be educated without repeated calls for closures/ political wranglings.

Yep, I would prefer the government to spend more money on education that is the one reason largely I voted Labour at the last election.

50 years of Tory fiscal policy (and I include the New Labour years in that). People say they want low taxes above all else. The result is crap public services. I don't agree with it but the majority seem happy so nothing will ever change.

How have you inferred that from the OP?

You know of a whole load of maths teachers queuing up to teach your children then?
And what's with the passive aggressive flowers?

I've inferred it from many of her OPs

So next month when it's raining and cold and a school spends x amount on air con you will all be complaining on wasting money?

Lots have Tory MPs who can be taken to task. Why are the prospective PMs not being asked?

There was an article in the Daily Mail yesterday suggesting that teachers were moaning about the heat from air conditioned classrooms. Plenty on here read the Mail (and pretend that they don’t) so getting the truth out is useful.

A lot of parents don’t actually know what the state of schools is. My school certainly guides them past the dodgy bits on Open Evening and hides the worst classrooms.

And plenty on MN do or have voted Conservative.

The whole concept of “deserve” is a bit childish. We don’t base funding for anything on “deserve”, but on what can be afforded and what the priorities are.

You also likely have a very different concept of what your own children deserve to what anyone else does.

Thread after thread after thread about teaching and how awful she finds it.

I found it awful too, so I left and did something else.

Maybe NG should go into politics. That's NOT a sarcastic suggestion - it's a genuine one. It's more likely to effect change than starting countless threads on MN about how awful teaching and the state of education are (and yes, they are).

A lot of parents also believe the cheery messages from SLT at schools, reassuring them that their children will be fine in school next week if they have sunhats and sunscreen on, and that classrooms will be kept as cool as possible.
This is complete bullshit, but hey. People believe what they want to believe, don't they?

I agree plenty do vote Conservative. But numerically there likely to be more that didn't.

😂 😂

Indeed, given the issues I’ve listed in my OP, the problem is actually me. 👍

Maybe NG should go into politics. That's NOT a sarcastic suggestion - it's a genuine one.

But I’d be shit at politics and I’m great at teaching maths, so I’ll be ignoring that career advice.