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).

Not the 11th floor, but the top two floors, WSW facing oven.

Our secondary gave the parents the option of not sending them in if there were medical needs during the 40 degree weather. Their dad lived in a cool house then so we went there.

Schools are not built well for cold or heat. Schools in countries that are used to this weather are likely to be better adapted and have better routines.

I don’t think schools should close, but I am dreading teaching this week 😱 Not sure what the solution is! Grin and bear it, I guess, just like every other workplace.

You sound a little bit lacking yourself in the moderation and calm that you are talking about.

Maybe get out and enjoy the sunshine.

I have huge, huge sympathies for anyone who has to be in school this week. When I was a teacher back in the day it didn’t get near 30 degrees but school was just impossible to be in. Even with discretion to take children outside, even when there was shade, the kids were so cranky and fidgety with the heat that you couldn’t do a thing with them. And as a parent, just having to go out for pickup will be bad enough.

If I could keep mine at home I would.

My son at Secondary school only gets 25 minutes.

He was regularly coming home without having had any lunch because there wasn’t time for all the kids buy food and eat it.

The school sell bacon and sausage batches during the morning break for children to buy so some children opt to do this so they will have at least have had something hot to eat at 10.30am even if they don’t get lunch.

After about 4 weeks of my son playing the “will I get lunch today” lottery he just switched over to taking in a packed lunch.

Schools aren't merely workplaces though, they are supposed to be places of education for children. If children can't actually learn in them, then what?

"20 minute lunch break"?

Really?

That sounds awful.

The world has gone mad.
Schools need to stay open during all weathers, historically we have had 'heat waves' and schools never closed.. as for Air con most schools struggle to afford books so where is the money coming from for aircon, blinds etc

The country is broke due to many previous governments lack of planning.

The sheer number of people claiming benefits means any spare cash goes instantly, the population claiming benefits grows daily by 3-400 people

the cost to the economy if schools close in a 'Heat wave' could be millions as parents take time off work to be at home with their children and business are understaffed so they need to close or reduce output. Parents who WFH simply won't

get some water in the classrooms and get on with it

It will be us oldies that will have to go - those who got through the summer of '76 without aircon or water bottles.

I can assure you that kids up and down the country will be asking their teachers 'what is the point of us even being here' this coming week as they flop around and say (rightly) that it is too hot to learn anything.

What is the point of them being there? What do you think teachers should reply? 'Your parents don't care enough about you to demand that education is funded properly so that you have a safe environment to learn in?' Because let's face it, that's the real answer.

Shirt sleeved order, a relaxed uniform policy of no ties or blazers on hot days.

Then schools are just childcare so parents can to work. Who'd have thought?

@DancingThroughLife02 We're lucky then, as our PTA paid for new seating and converting a classroom to a lab.
But we're a large secondary school whereas I assume you're a primary.

It's different for each.

If teachers took a stand and refused to work in 35+ degree classrooms and sent the kids home, parents would start caring about air con

Haha. No they wouldn't. They'd just be more vocally blaming teachers and telling you all about how 'It was hot in the 70s and 80s and we didn't keel over' and 'Children go to school in hot countries all the time without aircon, dontcha know' etc etc as they already have here.

And fuck all humidity.

It wasn't as hot then as it will be this week, and people still died.

"The 1976 heatwave is understood to have been the cause of 20% excess deaths and there was a significant increase in hospital emergency admissions from 24 June to 8 July 1976 compared with the same period in 1975 or 1974.[12] This compares to 59% excess deaths for the 2003 heatwave.

I'm a secondary teacher, I don't think my sixth formers require childcare. What then?

Yes agree.So many work places will be hideous ! I am working in a care home,12hour shifts ,no AC ,absolutely dreading my shift on Wednesday!🥵Even worse for the carers who will be doing the physical work.

Honestly I’d be happy not to consider schools to be childcare, but sadly modern life has evolved in a way that families generally need both parents working in order to survive financially. So either there needs to be childcare available for term times (which would be quite hard for anyone to provide as it would be such an ad hoc service), or there needs to be an entire societal shift which means that it’s accepted that parents will often have to take days off to account for school closures for adverse conditions.
Honestly I’m sure many working parents would rather keep our kids off and take the days off ourselves, but we need to keep our jobs.

Google tells me that while there's no legal upper working temperature, 16 to 24 degrees is considered the 'reasonable' window.

Well yes, but temperatures of 30 degrees and over were considerably more rare ( 1976 an exception) or, if they occurred, they lasted only for a day or so. Now prolonged periods of temperatures of mid 30s are likely to become the norm. There’s really no comparison.

Must be awful. Lifting people that need assistance in the heat.

Wow an hour and 15 minutes! That's loads!

When does your school start and finish?

It's going to be hotter this week than it was at any time during that glorious summer. Still, many people died that year.

I'm not in favour of schools closing, but I would be all for people taking as much care as they can this week to try to relieve the burden on emergency services, who will be inundated with issues as the country is not prepared for this heat.

There are plenty of wars you could sign up to if you feel that strongly about it.

I know you're Secondary. I don't have answers, teaching looks like a thankless job sometimes.

If going to school was really just about education I think know the whole system would look very different.
I've seen 2 children going through the UK education system, it's failed them both in different ways. That's not your fault, or any teacher's fault.
For now, schools should close temporarily if they are unsuitable for the purpose of meaningful learning.