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).

Yes many people can pop out to the water station or go to the loo ! When your a teacher you literally cannot leave them for a second

@DancingThroughLife02 I've said to my DD she doesn't have to go in 35 and over. Having said that it's not a free and easy decision to make is it ??
We have to navigate a nasty and aggressive attendance system !
The lead needs to come from the school not us ! We get told off and penalised !

No.

parents don’t care what happens at school as long as their children aren’t in their care for 6 hours just so they can work.

What a snotty comment. I am a doctor who never calls in sick and never lets my patients down as I don’t want to cancel my patients’ clinics as they have waited six months to see me. Rock and a hard place re childcare. Why do you make work seem like a jolly/day out?

@GoneWithTHeWindJammers yes and windows that opened. I remember pupils climbing from our classroom window on to the roof when I was at school (with the teachers permission and the teacher could fit through the window). My window opens 1.5 inches and my classroom has two walls of all window which heat it up like a greenhouse.
This week is also currently forecast to be hotter than the June of 76.

Especially if they live in a social housing flat

The posts about how "other countries have far hotter temperatures and they take no notice of it" are not really true.

But they don't have to stay in the flat and they aren't in the flat in close proximity to 30 hot and sweaty kids. And no one is telling them that they have to learn Pythagoras. They can just flop around and do nothing.

@Yetone my school has 1200 pupils, we have one shaded shelter which you could squeeze 100 pupils under uncomfortably.
The outdoors is all tarmac or AstroTurf both of which get very very hot. We do have adjustments in place for next week (students in PE kit, using the limited air conned space we have) but our school is very very hot and poorly designed, some people are being disingenuous with the suggestion you can just take the whole school outside to the shade (we do not have fields, I have only taught in inner city schools and none of the four I've taught in have fields)

But you can hop in a shower/cool bath at home; get a cold pack from the freezer; or a cold wet flannel to help be more comfortable. You can sit in front of a fan, got to a local pool, splash in a mini pool at home.

Teacher here too. I think we should start by relaxing the uniform rules, especially footwear. Wearing socks and closed shoes in this weather is impossible! I'm a teacher and I can wear sandals! Why force kids to wear inadequate footwear in this weather? Pretty much all the kids in Europe can go to school wearing what they want. I guarantee not many would wear socks and shoes in a heatwave!
I'll probably have a basic fan moving hot air around... It's going to be fun for the next five days 😞

You can close the schools if we can close a&e, which has no air con and is about 1000 degrees, 1hr break in 12.5hr shift and you DO NOT stop moving with sweat dripping from every pore 😂

Ah hospitals genuinely are awful in the heat, thoughts are with you this week 💐

Has it been extra busy with the high temperatures?

Surely you think that poster is irresponsible if they’ve got children. Going to work because they can’t be bothered to look after their children in a heat wave? Obviously, I don’t think so but your stupid comment that we are going to work and neglecting our children was ridiculous.

That comment was to parents who’s only response to genuine safeguarding concerns were “well we’ve got to work”.

As an aside, I assume you would have to take a day off if schools closed due to boiler issues or if your child was sick?

That does sound terrible. But I think A&E continuing to function is a teensy bit more important than Johnny doing some colouring in!

Yep, it was in the UK, back when the scary buzzword was still “the greenhouse effect”, and Ronni Ancona was impersonating Victoria Beckham with “the greenhouse effect is all because of the selfishness of our tomato growers, with their evil greenhouses!” (And when we were allowed to laugh at comedy like that!)

How would it even work though? So you could say kids could go home if the classroom was over 35 degrees. What if it’s 33 ? Or doesn’t reach 35 until.half an hour before home ( lots of kids have school buses or taxi they need to catch)
Or are we closing school because of predicted temps. These have changed from Mon to Tues to Weds being the hottest today.Tomorrow is know just normal warm with cloud where I am

Don’t backtrack. You made a generic sweeping comment about parents who work. Own it.

in reality parents don’t care what happens at school as long as their children aren’t in their care for 6 hours just so they can work

And yes, if it was a real emergency, I would have to take the day off. But in a situation like this, I will battle the heat to work so I can look after my patients. I’m dreading the journey on the tube, especially on Tuesday as I work on two different sites, but I will do that. Do not imply that I do not care about my children or the situation at school. And all the many other NHS staff who go to work in the heat to look after patients, adults and children. Without criticising the patients who attend.

So no higher than 32 degrees in 2001, then. Not even close to record breaking unfortunately - are you sure you and your fellow graduates weren't just being a bit dramatic?

We aren’t silly and we stop school at lunch time in the summer. We also have fans and water (but we don’t carry water bottles everywhere we go like in the uk!). Our buildings are made for heat. We do class outside under a tree sometimes too.

Only on Mumsnet do people think YABU for thinking 37 is hot. A poster even said her child was still playing rounders match! I don't know why people have to keep bringing up 1976.

At the end ofnthe day if you think it's too hot and you have the means to do so, keep them off.

I think schools should shut when its over 32 this week but then government should help prepare for future heatwaves but I am guessing the money is not there for education. Schools certainly do not have the budget ;(

Forgive my flippancy, i'm just trying to take the edge off my feelings of impending doom for my run of nightshifts, next week 😀

Do think about voting with your feet when your training contract ends OP. There are some truly terrible academy trusts out there operating horrendous working conditions. The only way they’ll change is if staff leave as recruitment is tough at the moment.

It’s not about you battling to get to work, it’s about insistence on children being in an environment where it’s genuinely too hot and unsafe.

Yes if my classroom is at 35°C + which I know it’ll get to if it got to 32°C on Friday, I do think that children should be sent home rather than be left to faint or be sick. And in my work I’m safeguarding children, I do expect parents to acknowledge when the environment in an educational setting isn’t appropriate for their child on a particular day.

If schools do get too hot and the government does decide they should close as they have in France, parents will need to make the necessary arrangements.