Should schools be closed at 35°C?

[DancingThroughLife02]

Not really an AIBU but looking ahead at the forecast for next week and it’s looking like a scorcher.

I work in a secondary school in a science classroom (which seems to get extra hot during practicals) and we have no fans or AC or anything at all to keep the children cool. Open windows don’t seem to help much. The thermostat in the classroom got above 30°C in the afternoon.

The children need to have their water bottles filled at break times and lunch times only and are not allowed to fill them during lessons - which I disagree with as so many come to me saying that they didn’t get a chance to fill theirs up in the 20 minute lunch break.

Last week I had children saying they were dizzy and feeling sick, and they’re made to go outside during breaks. I’m also not sure that anything I taught them during the extra hot days actually stuck in anyway as they all seemed melted onto the desks.

I know there is a legal lower temperature limit for classrooms/workplaces but maybe with the increasing summer temperatures over the last few years we need to start considering investing in ACs as the heat in summer seems to be more prolonged than a couple hot days and in the meantime consider health and safety of the students (and teachers as even I was beginning to feel a bit dizzy).

Schools should be resourced with air con rather than closing because these temperatures are here to stay and become a regular feature of summer (and indeed of spring as we saw earlier this year). But I feel that children and teachers are not top of the priority list.

No. Of course not.

Sorry but yours only have 20 mins for lunch?? Or do you mean 20 mins available after eating their lunch?
Yes they are going to have to do something about schools, some of our classrooms get oven-like very quickly.

I started a thread in chat asking for advice to keep cool. I’m on second floor so windows can only open an inch. No through air as at end of a corridor. Temps are easily 10 degrees hotter than the forecast. I’ve bought some cooling cloths that a poster recommended. I hope this week’s learning walks are cancelled as I don’t think SLT will see much learning. Definitely survival mode this week.

Children go to schools in hot climates (without air conditioning) all over the world.

Schools aren't going to be all retrofitted with air con, but should have blinds and fans easily enough. And they should be providing shade, be that outside or inside.

The school I teach at is literally like a giant greenhouse 🥵 lots of glass everywhere and no air con.
Fans end up blowing warm air round eventually.
I'm HoD and first in so I go round my department early morning opening windows, doors and turning fans on to try to help. We leave doors open when teaching to try to get a through draft.
By period 3 though, it's awful and we are on the top floor (of four!).

20 mins for lunch? What the heck!

Sure. As long as you are happy with businesses and services you might need closing as their staff take leave to look after their children. I realise you are focused on secondary where the kids don't need supervision but it would have to apply to primary as well.

Would be better IMO if your school was more flexible about things like water breaks - perhaps you could advocate for this with them?

Children do go to school in all sort of hot countries @Cooshawn . But, having grown up in one, we had an upper limit, after which we were sent home early. It had to be a certain temperature by 10am and school would finish at mid-day that day, or slightly later at 1pm. It was common sense that no learning would happen if children were too hot.

Other hot countries have siesta or really long lunch breaks.

Children in most hot countries also don't have uniform. The UK uniform culture, even if blazers are allowed off, with shirt buttons done up and ties and its lack of shorts is ridiculous in this weather.

Health and safety is less of a thing in other countries, so even top floor windows open wide enough to allow air in - unlike the windows here that barely crack open. There is some common sense in that kids are allowed drinks in classrooms. It is against the law here, apparently, to allow them to drink in a lab, even if no practicals have happened all day. We don't have money for fans and PAT testing rules mean we can't bring in our own.

And lastly, the pressure to still have perfect lessons here where learning happens every minute of classroom time is a UK thing. In my classroom, hot weeks like that were often watching film times or other low effort activities. Imagine being a PE teacher in this heat and being learning walked (because SLT still do that).

This is the norm in most academies. It's ridiculous. It's illegal in the workplace but academies get away with it.

Our windows open just a couple of inches, and the classroom is glass on two sides -we boil. The thermometer regularly shows +30°C and above even when the outdoor temp is 5°C lower. Would love a ceiling fan. We have blinds and they help a bit, but when they're down, we don't get the trickle draft from the window slits.
But as a PP says, these temperatures are here to stay.

I don’t believe any any school has a 20 minute lunch break

We had hot weather in the 70s & 80s when I was at school, nobody had a water bottle - we just got on with it, everyone survived and nobody fainted.

Yes. The French Education Minister has said people can keep kids home in the heatwave next week.

Businesses and government need to stop moaning about the cost of air con and start budgeting for it. We’ve known for years that the climate is changing and yet still new buildings are being constructed without any thought to the future temperatures. Schools and hospitals should be the priority.

No they shouldn’t! Should children miss exams because of “extreme heat” (another of the scary buzzwords of the decade), and dark red weather maps? In any case, shouldn’t the children be in school to be indoctrinated taught that the planet is burning to a crisp?

Close this, close that! Ban this, ban that! It’s like the 2020 mob hysteria all over again. The media whipping up a storm because they need the clicks, and it’s not even forecast to be as hot as the so-called apocalypse of 2022. All because pathetic snowflakes can’t handle a bit of weather. It’s always too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry, too sunny, too foggy, beast from the east… there’s no sense of moderation and calm any more, or even enjoying nice weather during the fleeting period that we have it, it’s all panic, panic, panic, moan, moan, moan.

Other hot countries are acclimatised to the heat, too. Every year in the UK it seems to surprise us.

My school has a 25 minute lunch break. Why is that hard to believe?

I remember hot weather in the 80s but I also remember not doing any work. I’m being learning walked this week!

How many kids are in the school? Do they all
manage to get to the lunch hall, queue, collect and eat their food and take their trays back in 25 mins without having to force it down at breakneck speed?
My kids get an hour and 15 mins.

I grew up in a country with hot summers and cold winters. No air conditioning. I roll my eyes every time I see suggestions that schools should close every time there's a bit of snow, cold snap or temperatures above average. By all means remove uniform requirements, don't make the kids do PE outside in full sun and let them access water more often. That's common sense.

Pretty sure 20 mins is the legal minimum per 6 hours

My concern is always our kids who live on the 11th floor in a flat with windows that don't open and no outdoor space. At least we have some shade at school!

You could try a neck fan - I’ve just bought one and it’s amazing!

1,200. Staggered lunch KS3 have different time to KS4/5 but yes, it’s 25 minutes.

The question was though do they all manage to get their food and eat it without having to force it down at an unhealthy pace in 25 mins?

And send them home to their beautifully air conditioned palaces?