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!

Actually, schools in Spain make a lot of adaptations when they are experiencing heatwaves, and especially in the worst affected areas of the country. They reschedule lessons to avoid the hottest parts of the day, some schools close at midday, and they make use of online learning. Schools in Spain are decentralised, so decisions can be made regionally – including closures. Spain actually has really poor infrastructure at schools during high temperature due to underfunding.

I would also expect a country such as Germany, with predictable snowfall, to have better preparedness than a country like UK where snow is very unpredictable and largely infrequent.

It’s expected to be 33 here with a “feels like” temp of 37.

Why “can’t the uk do this”?
Nothing is stopping you?

The thing is though, hot countries have an existing infrastructure to deal with that because heat is the norm. Our infrastructure is really to deal with the cold rather than hotter than normal weather for a couple of weeks a year or snowier than normal weather every few years. We'll have to adapt but will no doubt do so at a snails pace.

26 here, feeling like 29, muggy and forecast as cloudy

I’m not hugely shocked they’re doing this either. They need to ensure safe sleeping conditions too after all, for babies and toddlers still having a nap. But having said that, our summers are getting hotter and hotter so it’s time for them to invest in air conditioning. There can be hot days from April all the way up to September nowadays so that’s half the year when there could be a heatwave. I remember one in London in September two years ago when my toddler was a newborn. It was horrendous trying to keep DC cool.

I will ask my housing association whether i can get permission to have shutters put on the outside of the building Just the windows of my flat What are my chances??!!

This country doesn't have buildings/premises/infrastructure set up for extremes of heat. Rare for tourists to come here for the weather unlike Spain, so no point comparing us to countries like that.

Depending on the building they might not be allowed to install air conditioning. The building might be designed to keep in the heat, great for winter not so great in a heatwave.

Exactly the only "oh it only happens a couple of weeks a year" doesnt wash anymore.

I remember a horrendous one in September 2006

It was 22 here today and honestly, that's plenty. The hottest I've experienced is obviously abroad but it always feels so much worse here in these concrete hellscapes we've created. I have always enjoyed the mild Scottish weather, I've never been a sun/heat seeker and I struggle in warmer weather. I really don't want to just have to get on with it 😫

The thing is, it’s June. We could still have several more days like this coming up so they are going to need to come up with a plan to cope going forward. Or are they going to shut every time.

Ridiculous YANBU

We're not all in the south of England - I'm in Scotland and it really is only a couple of weeks a year - meaning, not regular. So far.

Closing because it's hot?! That's ridiculous. I hope they're going to be refunding everyone for the day! I'd certainly be insisting they refund a days fee or open as normal!

It's 32C where everyone has access to fans and ice packs and damp muslin cloths - hardly difficult to keep cool.

I work in a school - we had damp paper towels on friday then a fan made from folded paper - a lesson on evaporation and the cooling effect!

i actually investigated looking at renting AC for a week this week. Even with a great deal it was £800. Even the sales guy said, it’s just two days get the windows open and the blinds down. I have teaching staff moaning in front of the Dyson fans I’ve provided, and I’ve given up my own. Dress for the weather. We have many shade trees. I’ve ordered ice for the air-conned staff room.

I think this is my issue though, and to @usedtobeaylis we know this stuff is coming, we’ve known it’s been coming for ages - more snow, more ice, more heat, but we’ve done nothing about it. Other countries adapt and change. Heatwaves in Spain have been getting more frequent so they are attempting to adapt. We don’t bother. We just grind to a halt and shrug our shoulders. Where I used to live in the U.K. we had snow nearly every year and nearly every year was chaos. ‘It’s not our normal’ isn’t really an excuse any more. We’ve known this has been coming for ages, we can’t feign ignorance.

We live in one of the areas that got over 40degreees in 2022, the schools and nursery kept open, despite the power cut and the fire burning less than a mile away.
(Although they probably weren't able to close once the power cut out and the fire meant that parents couldn't get to the school for a while...)

Maybe they know from last time the building does get over hot?

All this talk of water play is totally missing the point that there will be babies who are far too young for that and who cannot regulate their temperatures. Yes it will be similar at home* but the nursery isn't legally liable for their safety then. I agree it seems OTT and they need AC units going forward but I don't think it is nearly as insane as some people are making out.

*It's likely people's homes will actually be cooler though. My classroom reaches around 30 degrees when it's more like 22 outside. I've never lived in a house that heats up like a classroom does so I imagine nurseries could experience similar.

Our preschool never closed for this sort of things. They had no AC, few do in the UK as its a lot of expense for little usage.

They stocked up on ice lollies & ice, had paddling pools & sprinklers, told parents to send swimwear and did loads of water based play - water the plants, water tables, sprinklers etc.

When mine went to nursery they installed little pools and the children played with water outside.

How is a paddling pool gonna help a six month old baby.

It's likely people's homes will actually be cooler though. My classroom reaches around 30 degrees when it's more like 22 outside. I've never lived in a house that heats up like a classroom does so I imagine nurseries could experience similar.

Au contraire, lots of 80s and 90s houses are poorly insulated and will be hotter than schools.

https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/welsh-apartment-block-its-unbearable-24753259

Are they refurbishing you the service they can't provide?

Mine do pool days ice lollies and have bought big industrial fans and ask to pick up early if you can

Exactly this! The nursery I work in is like a greenhouse in summer and no amount of water play can keep the toddlers cool, plus you can't go outside to play as there's not enough shade, so you've got 30 kids plus 7/8 staff in one boiling hot room trying to stay cool,all radiating body heat too.