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, never heard of it, just get on with it

My neice has sports day Thursday when it's due to be 36 degrees, Early years age. Sister is hoping it will be cancelled

It's because many British people are clueless about the dangers of hot weather as we don't usually have to deal with it. I love that saying (from a play, according to the internet) "Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun."

You need a dehumidifier as well and whack it on to 40 humidity. Part of the reason why we sweat so much and why it's so difficult to bear is because of that humidity.

I saw on the news that when England were playing Croatia inside the stadium was like a fridge Might be worth mentioning

Im a teacher too. Some classrooms get unbearably hot. Mine has AC so its great. Guzzling water is not the answer but if its a concern perhaps your school should provide small bottles of water in each room to save difficulty filling up at break and lunch. Thing is lots of places around the world regularly have these temperatures and kids go to school. If these temperatures are going to be more common in the future then it will require a massive investment in installing AC, reorganise timings of school day and so on.

DD’s secondary school have said the kids can wear thier pe kit Monday - weds and they will review on Wednesday for the last 2 days.

I was 8 in 1976 and remember it being hot but the heat was drier and less humid.

2022 was much worse and the approaching heatwave looks as though temps will be even hotter than that year.

People just aren’t taking it seriously. Perhaps they are retired with leafy gardens to sit in.

They shouldn't have to go in PE kit, they should have appropriate uniforms for the weather.

They don’t have any of that where we are-kids survive.
The difference though would be-no stuffy uniforms-shorts and t-shirts, hat, sandals/flip flops. Kids bring large bottles of water and school ends end of June
No air con or changes to daily school times-9-3.15

Even schools that have a summer uniform are allowing PE kits.

The weather is abnormal, the uniform is usually fine.

Exactly.

Schools in those places have air conditioning or buildings designed for the climate and often formal heat policies that adjust the school day. They've adapted. A school in Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur hitting 37°C is a building engineered for it, with cooling systems, and often a legal framework that still allows closure if it gets worse. Their school day or year may be different. Their clothing and footwear expectations will be different. Their school meals will be different.

A Victorian-era London primary school hitting 37°C with single-glazed windows, no air con, and no policy is a completely different situation. The temperature on the thermometer might be the same, the experience inside the building is not.

wtf is this obsession with ‘they survive’ ‘no one died’ etc?

Schools are supposed to be places of education not extreme endurance tests where survival is the key indicator of success.

”do they learn anything?” should be the basic question.

This week they won’t.

Southern European country here, hitting 40, they do zero of what you say above

Are the buildings built to retain the heat? Do they have fans? Or shutters on windows? Tall ceilings? Verandas?

I went to a very simply built school in Africa for a while. It was far better designed for this weather.

That’s what i’m saying, they learn just fine and there are no complaints!

Uk are pussies when it comes to weather-hot and snow, other countries laugh at this attitude. It doesn’t even last long there?!

Imagine going into your garden shed and shutting the door on the hottest day of the year and you will start to see the issue. So many British schools rely on portacabins which are freezing in the winter, boiling in summer. Add to this the fact class sizes have grown significantly and you now have 32+ bodies in a room built to hold 25. The temperatures teachers are looking at, even with air-conditioning units, is going to be well beyond mid thirties.

Being responsible for your own work output in these temperatures is a challenge, now try to motivate 32 fifteen year olds who are melting in trousers because shorts aren't part of the uniform. Even if they wear their PE kit, it's coloured and absorbs the heat. Do you find yourself getting snappier in the heat? How would you cope with these 32 teenagers all moaning and refusing to work but your boss' office is also hot so you know he's having a wander around the school to check they're all working.

You can't compare to schools in Europe which have been designed with higher temperatures in mind. Not to mention the fact lots of our European neighbours have already started their holidays.

Yes, Disneyland Paris can be very hot. I've been there with students in 42 degree heat but it's designed to cope with the heat far better than UK theme parks. A visit to Legoland in 28 degree heat was undoubtedly a more miserable experience with rides closing, long queues and no shade.

We urgently need to look at the way we design schools to cope with extreme temperatures. Until we do, we need to have stricter laws to protect pupils and staff. It will take a tragedy before something is done.

Verandas 😂 normal windows, teachers can bring fans in if they wish. Covered shade over playground

Everyone who has worked in a school knows the staff will be babysitting rather than educating by next week so why not keep them home?

Can’t help that all they seem to want to do is use more and more glass when building these new super schools as well. My kids school it’s 70% glass at least I’d say. A giant greenhouse for them all to stew in.

It was remarkably dry - both the drought, and in terms of overall humidity. Which is probably one reason people remember it with fondness - a few weeks of 33 or 34 degrees with bugger all humidity isn't massively unmanageable for most people.

Over 80% (what we're forecast for this week, with higher temperatures) is a different kettle of fish.

We know from research that actually they don’t ’learn just fine’.

You didn't seriously expect many people to say of course schools should close when it hits 35 degrees? I think some Mumsnetters would be advocating schools remaining open even if it was 50 degrees.

They do where I am-exams last week, all fine

We have summer uniform, still going to PE kit this week. Proper skorts mean girls less likely to wear tights with crotch length 'uniform' skirts, or show bums off in inappropriate 'shorts' worn under crotch length uniform skirts. The rolled skirt is an endless fight, as is the repeated 'im not looking at your bum cheeks, you're showing me them'. Quite looking forward to that bit.