To think that the county council should decide

[cubangal]

Two of my DCs are now home for two days as their schools have announced closure, the third is in school as their school (just down the road from schools a and b) is open.

Aibu to wish the council would make a decision, surely schools re either safe or not ?

No, surely it entirely depends on the facilities at the school? If a school is particularly badly set up for the heat they have no choice but if a school can cope why shouldn’t they stay open?

I disagree.

Schools in the same local authority could be completely different in terms of their site and facilities.

Our local primary has all ground floor classrooms, each with windows and doors to the outside. The school site has lots of trees and shaded areas. As it is primary rather than secondary there is lots of flexibility in altering the timetable or location of activities to best suit the conditions.

conversely, the local secondary is shutting for remote education. Students there would have to move around site each hour and many classrooms are 1 or 2 floors up, and likely to be hotter.

I can see why the School leadership at each would come to a different conclusion despite being within a mile or two of each other.

If they’re academies they’re not under council control anyway.

I agree. It’s going to be chaos - headteachers don’t feel they can disappoint parents by closing. And in so doing, they are going to be blamed for children and staff inevitably coming down with heatstroke and sunstroke. It’s not fair for the headteachers to take the flak - they’re damned if they do and damned if they don’t.

This

I work in school and we're staying open, which I think is the right thing to do. I expect attendance to be low though as parents make their own decisions.

IMHO the schools closing are doing it primarily to protect their attendance %

YABU

as PP said, schools have different buildings and layouts which will affect how practical it is to keep going in these temperatures. Far better for individual heads to make the decisions since they’re the ones who actually know their schools

i do think county councils should make sure parents aren’t fined if they choose to keep their kids off school for the next couple of days. While I’m sure some will use it as an excuse for a day out, others will be genuinely concerned about their DC coping. Parents know their kids best so are best placed to judge whether to send them or not.

Our high school (MaT) is closed. Our primary (LA) is open with optional pick up at lunchtime. Schools are opposite sides of the road. I guess other schools in the MAT are more urban with worse facilities than our high school but the closure is all schools.

We are opening early and closing early, with the option to collect at the usual time if alternative arrangements can't be made. Som parents will take advantage of this, some won't send their children in at all. All absences over the next two days will be authorised, whatever the circumstances.