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).

It reduces the opportunities for bullying. My son's school had two 20 minute breaks across the day and finished early. They did eventually change one of the breaks to 30 minutes though as the kids couldn't get their lunch fast enough. It wasn't an academy.

As for the heat, there need to be fans and shade. And FGS don't make them do PE in the heat of the day - I bet most schools do, though.

And not just academies.

@JammyDodgersandPeas they would still have access to cool water , baths /showers a freezer for ice packs /ice and cooling water and also parks near by if necessey or a shop with air con.

If it’s 35 outside, it’s over 40 in my classroom. It’s horrendous.
I get the sun all day so no cool morning air after about 8am. The windows barely open and the blinds need to be pulled down to keep the sun out so if there is any breeze at all we don’t get it.

My class will be outside in the shade as much as possible.

35 degrees is very hot, buildings in this country are not constructed for this level of heat because it is not an annual occurance. Likewise we are not used to as it does not happen every year. Personally, I am dreading it, I am fine with heat and enjoy it, but this level feels unanatural and dangerous. It makes me nauseous, dizzy and then factor in hay fever and i, like many others will be feeling wretched. It is also very difficult for individuals with health conditions and on certain medications, it's horrible for little babies and pets.

My son’s school has just emailed to say they can wear PE kit this week (so shorts/tshirt/trainers) which is a relief. They redid the science classrooms this year and
added aircon to them as they recognised how hot they get.

I have memories of primary school in 90s where we were sent home early (lunchtime) or school closed because of how hot it was going to be.

School could have air con/heat pumps and solar panels on the roof to help improve conditions but with little wriggle room in budgets how many could afford it!

I can believe it. My kids get a 20 minute break time and a 40 minute lunch. When they first started they got 30 minutes for break and 30 minutes for lunch. Some schools split the day into three and have 20/20/20 with a split lunch.

there is no minimum amount of break time a school has to stick to.

I think all state schools need to be fitted with roof top solar which can be connected to aircon.

@scalt we dont have the infrastructure here or the flexibility.
I'm sure many are "pathetic snowflakes" but also many of us ,me included have an actual physical reaction to exteme heat and poor air quality I can get migraine /feel sick and faint.
It's a horrible feeling to be so vulnerable out and about or at work .

Definitely not closed. But parents should have the option to keep children at home or pick them up in the afternoon without it affecting their attendance if they want to. That way there will be less children in the classrooms which will help. My old school did this when we had the 40 degree heat an few years ago and we treated the remaining children like flowers and put their feet in their trays of water and sprayed them regularly with a spray bottle!

You talking about Italy, France or both?

In France, the right to wfh is pretty much protected. Plus, the local councils organise daycare. Or they go to grandparents.

In Italy, the culture is different and children will be sent to grandparents at the beach or mountains until one of the parents can take leave (it’s quite normal for businesses to close for the whole of August). Often the mother will go down with the kids, and father join later.

I’m not sure my patients would much like coming to my house and have my kids there for their gynae clinics.
If there was an option for paid term time childcare, I’d use that.

There can be arguments either way about whether primary schools are supporting daytime childcare for young children. Even if it is accepted that they are parents could still be told they could choose to keep their children at home if no meaningful learning was possible in the conditions. This would at least reduce the numbers who came in and enable more flexibility as their would be a smaller number of children to manage and try and keep comfortable.
Secondary aged pupils don’t need childcare. If no meaningful learning is possible, & I can’t imagine what would be a 40+ degree classroom with 30 sweaty adolescents trapped in a glaring sun, then there is literally no point in them being there. Local conditions and building situations need to be considered, but if the conditions don’t allow for any learning it is simply a pointless charade. We can imagine how buildings could be modified to improve conditions, but the reality currently in most schools is they aren’t.

It wasn’t as hot. It went on for a long time, but the temperatures were lower.

Definitely 20 minute lunch break for staff -pretty standard. We run interventions, lunchtime clubs and fulfil supervisory duties. Children get longer, of course.

Yeah let’s close them but only if every other sector in the country closes because it’s the same temperature for everyone.

What is it about the British mentality that makes a virtue out of putting up with absolute bullshit instead of just fixing the bullshit?

I'd love a fan in my classroom, Unfortunately, there is no school budget to buy one and I am not allowed to bring in my own due to PAT testing. I do have a portable desktop one I can use when I'm not teaching but feel it is a bit mean to have a tiny one for myself when the children don't have one.

I worked in an office with aircon before teaching so I know that's not true.

But it's not about the workers here, it's about the kids.

What is the point of putting teenagers into intolerable classrooms and telling them they have to learn Pythagoras? Like, what is the actual point?

Utterly ridiculous

Surely in a science lab you have taps? Just let them fill their water bottles.

And the humidity was really low.

A little bit different to the 88% that's forecast this week....

And still there were a lot of excess deaths.

It's so weird. There's a sizeable part of the population for whom comfort is a moral failing.

They can’t fill them with that water -absolutely not drinking water.

I’d love the fix the bullshit, but I’m a menopausal woman working full time in the NHS, 3 kids, one profoundly disabled, caring for my elderly mother, I get 4-5 hours sleep a night… I haven’t got the energy to fix bullshit. I can vote, but that’s all I can realistically do. If that’s down to my ‘British mentality’ then 🤷🏻‍♀️.
I think many of us would love to see schools have air con fitted in every classroom. We’d love to be able to take days off work to keep our kids at home whenever they needed to be at home. I haven’t got the time or the energy to lead the campaigns for those changes, but if anyone else would like to then I’ll happily get behind them.