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!

Well there needs to be. Child minders are not your subordinates

The amount of people who are against this is shocking. They're doing what needs to be done for the health of the children (and staff) in attendance.

Over 30 degrees is a dangerous temperature in the UK where buildings are designed to trap heat. Add to that an environment where they are used to playing and using energy and you're just asking for trouble.

At least someone cares enough to put the children first.

If they don't feel they can safely look after the children in the heat then realistically they have to close.

Sounds like perfect time to get out the water play. It's a bit of a cop out I wonder if they've had staff saying they won't be working.

That's ridiculous. When it got to 40 in 2022 I had one in nursery and one in year 1. The one at school had his class trip cancelled that day which was fair enough as it would have been outside all day. Neither school or nursery closed completely, they were just sensible about keeping them cool as best they could

Depends on how easy it is to keep the children cool with the facilities they have.

We invested in air con units after the 2022 40C heatwave as it was so hard to keep everyone cool and comfortable.

A mix of air con and water play should keep our children cool enough but in some settings it will be very tricky.

Be prepared to not like the answer. For all you know they DID open then but it would also depend if anything happened because of it. Like a kid being hospitalised with heat stroke.

And what about working parents????

Sounds like the nursery is a pack-away setting in a hall without dedicated outdoor space, so unlikely to be able to install air con and maybe limited on water play.

That's pretty shit. I’m assuming they won’t charge for that day?

I have never heard of this, we’ve done several london heatwaves with temps of mid to high 30s and nursery has never closed. They might have asked for extra clothes to enable lots of water play and they did send an email saying the heat builds over the day and if at possible children would be more comfortable being collected earlier if possible but that they would implement measures to keep them as cool as possible of this wasn’t viable.

What about them?

If the nursery had air conditioning, they could presumably stay open and the parents could go to work as usual?

I‘m more than aware of that, thanks 🙄 What I think is ridiculous is a business not mitigating for hot weather. It’s hardly a shock and aircon units are not hard to come by.

This Is what DS' nursery used to do. They had a big canopy thing that pulled out from the side of the building, paddling pool, sprinkler toys, water table, lollies, plenty of water. We'd just get a message saying please send in a towel, swim wear (preferably rash vest and swim leggings with UV protection) and water shoes. We live by the coast so everyone has these things. Then there's pull the blinds inside and out fans on. I used to be quite jealous trudging off to work!

this thread really wont age well if there is something bad in the news tomorrow

We're talking 30 degrees tomorrow, not 45.

Beginning to suspect that the only reason we have air con in cars is to protect the NHS so drivers dont doze off and cause an accident.

Yet countries like Spain manage it when the temperatures are reaching near 40!

We’re never set up here for anything - heat, cold, snow, we’re so used to our usual that we don’t know how to cope. But Germany, for example, doesn’t grind to a halt in the snow, they fit chains and winter tyres and get on with things! We’re such a funny country in some ways.

My aunts place in Italy has shutters on the windows Why cant the UK do this.

Yes I think this is a bit crap tbh. My dd was at nursery a few years back when there was the much worse heatwave that reached 40 and they still went in! They set up a paddling pool in the art room. Heatwaves are going to become more common. We need to take care but life has to go on too.

I would check with them about exactly why it's closed. My sister works in early years and she had a really tough couple of days because the building just isn't designed to cope with the heat and they were making do with fans that weren't really helping. They struggled to keep the kids cool. Having them outside in the beating sun all day with a paddling pool isn't really a solution. Many workplaces are going to need to get proper air conditioning installed at some point.

I think it’s fair enough tbh, if my child’s nursery doesn’t feel confident they can keep her safe in those temp’s I’d far rather them say that and close. It’s easier to keep your own child cool 1-1 with fans, paddling pool, ice lolly/ice creams etc all day which as a one off as a parent I can decide is fine, a nursery can’t.

Our nursery isn’t closed but has advised if you can keep your child at home then to please do so.

It’s the nature of living in England really. We aren’t prepared for extremes of weather because we rarely get it so it’s not economically viable to have air con etc, we just have to make do when it comes up for the short periods of time.

So are homes, The walls in my flat are warm to touch and so are the door handles The plugs and light switches get warm too. Had an electrical check and new fuse box put in so electrics arent at fault.

I suspect certain organisations will be busting to put in air con once they are looking down the business end of a lawsuit

It’s forecast to be 32 degrees max fgs! That’s ridiculous to close. And I speak as someone who taught in 40 degrees plus in 2022 with flat roofs, windows that only crack open three inches and SLT getting pissy about staff bringing in their own fans. No chance of air con in most school buildings. We just had to get on with it.

Why? Someone being more sensitive to the heat often more so due to underlying conditions doesn’t mean the entire world can shut down for a couple of days.