Nursery closing on Monday due to heat

[MumofSpud]

GDC’s nursery is closed on Monday due- reason being the heat. They will be open on Tuesday til 12 (instead of 3).
This was emailed to parents on Friday.
My AIBU is - the nursery is in a hall (trees all around and in a park so outside space and shady outside areas if needed. So why does it need to close!

How strange! Never heard of this and there isn’t an upper heat limit for employees in the UK (there is a lower one though). I’d suggest they need to learn to cope with the heat better, and bring in aircon.

This should have been optional rather than just outright closed.
They do have to think of the staff too but all those other kids will be in school all day.

That's awful. I get its going to be warm but come on. I'd be furious if I had to take a day/2 days off work because my nursery closed because it was a bit warm. They do realise these children will still be in the heat anyway...just at home 🤣 smacks more of a "the staff want a day off to enjoy the weather".
I assume they at least won't charge for the day/offer an alternative day in the week if not attending 5 days?

That is totally ridiculous. They just need guidelines in place to keep the children. Cool.

I have seen this in my area with schools and nurseries when we’ve had really severe heatwaves – it can be very challenging keeping a lot of very young children safe in high levels of heat, but at low 30s it seems a bit unnecessary.

I have too and I really don't understand it. Their homes will be just as hot won't they?

Sounds like the nursery needs to invest in air-conditioning.

Surely they just need to cover the windows from the sun and get some fans going.
The could do some play sessions with water indoors.
Im sure this wont be the only hot day.

It is going to be 30 degrees where I am on Monday.

There is no upper limit for businesses because people work in foundries and bakeries so the upper limit cannot be applied across the board.

As nurseries are ratioed it is easier to keep one child cool at home rather than 3 or more in a nursery and children overheat and cannot regulate their body temperature well. You can have a paddling pool, strip them down to their nappy or have them naked, have them take cooling showers, feed them ice cream or ice lollies, cool flannels etc. Houses might be hot but you can cool a child down.

We have cool toppers on our mattresses and one side of our pillows are cool too. We also have ceiling fans and an air conditioning unit.

In contrast my kid’s nursery gets the splash pad and paddling pool out and they make lollies. Inside they put the lights off and have fans and it stays fairly cool.

If I was cynical I would say that it was for the staff’s benefit.
But a few water pistols would help on Monday!

This! Sounds great

I remember a couple of years ago a lot of the local nurseries closed due to the heat as they don't all have air conditioning.

Did they close in 2022 when it got to 40°C? Ask them, and if not, they shouldn't close now

But at home it will be one (or two) parents trying to keep one or two young children, possibly grumpy from the heat, cool and hydrated. At nursery the adult to child ratio is much higher.

That’s ridiculous and unnecessary. I would complain and expect a refund for those days, even if it dies go against their terms and conditions. There’s no reason they couldn’t open and just do lots of water play, like every other early years provider will be doing on Monday.

Bonkers

Wow that's ridiculous

I hope you at least got a refund, what are they going to do if there was a prolonged heatwave, shut up shop.

Yes, but I would argue it's much easier to keep your 1-2 children safely cooler at home than15-30 small children at a school or nursery setting.

I'd imagine that they're more concerned about the safety of the tiny children (maybe babies if it's a Nursery rather than a Nursery class at school) than their own comfort, what with the recommended temperature being around 16 - 20 Celsius for sleeping.

You have misunderstood the law.

The fact there isn't an upper heat limit just means there is no particular temperature at which employers must shut. Employers still have to think about the health and safety of their employees (and the children they care for)

Must have had too many parents pulling their kids out of sports day so they've assumed the parents don't want their kids doing anything in the heat

I think it's quite reasonable tbh, these are very tiny babies and children, easier to keep them cool at home imo but can understand why a working parent would find it annoying.

You brought back a memory for me. I worked in a nursery many years ago and each classroom was in a separate greenhouse type cabin. Lovley looking cosy spaces but absolutely horrendous in summer. One day it was so hot the children were sweating and their clothes were wet through with it. I begged management to move us to the older building or shut. It was literally sauna like. No air con. Children and staff were actually sick with it. They wouldn’t close or move us so we had to endure it.
Given that I’m surprised yours is closing.