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).

But I have no air con in my house, just two fans (can get over 40) it’s not great, but it’s ok and nobody becomes melodramatic about it

I think a half day would be appropriate. Their is a red heat warning danger to life.

Only half way through the day and I’m already feeling sick with a headache, and the children are all but falling asleep at their desks.

As a kid I don't recall schools being closed in the heat.

I don't even remember having water bottles or uniform changes.

You just got on with it.

Expecting kids to turn up in full uniform without bottles is probably unreasonable.

But I think having days off just because it's hot, or a flake of snow falls, what sort of messaging is this sending to our kids ?

No wonder productivity is down the tubes if people believe they should have time off for everything. And peoples resiliance is through the floor.

@GasPanic

It never got to 40 degrees when you was a kid.

What is so hard for people like you to understand. it was not 40c outside when you were at school

jfc.

We're in the red zone. My classroom is already 30c and it's 28c outside today. Everyone is still and learning is minimal.

Add 10 degrees on to that for the rest of the week and we'll be dead.

38C in June has been recorded 4 times since mid 19th century.
10th August 2003.
25th July 2019.
2x in July 2022 (before the heatwave that reached 40C).

So it is highly unusual and the suggestion that many people seem to have that they went to these temperatures are standard is obviously rubbish.

There is no reason not to discuss the best means to mitigate - unless you are somebody that can't stand the idea of improving things for the younger generation.

Proves the point i made yesterday

Agreed American semesters are January to December. In Yorkshire and Scotland schools used to break up at the beginning of July I think and go back at the end of August.

Our local private school breaks up first week in July.
They do some school trips I believe to Uganda with a charity. And another mountain one. Otherwise they're done.

My DIL says she's pulling them out of primary school to go to their caravan on the coast and doesn't care they're doing bugger all anyway. Both the kids teachers are off sick long term the heads been on compassionate leave for a few months.

Our school is giving the option to pick up children at 1:30 which we’ll be doing as I’m off this week anyway.

Building needs to improve- that sounds horribly hard.

You may be used to it, but people who are not will not have the same heat tolerance thresholds.

Not in school today. Fine in my house but when I went out I came back dripping sweat. And I am not that bad for heat tolerance. Pale as anything but always suncreamed and hatted to the max. I was recently in Spain and it was 47oc one evening and to be honest felt like this.

Be that as it may, it’s classic headline technique. They wanted to get “40” in there, to grab people’s attention; it’s only when you read on that you see it’s elsewhere. Papers do this all the time: outrageous headline to grab your attention. followed by smaller print which changes the meaning completely.

Incredible insight.

Next you’ll be telling us that ‘local woman discovers this one cool trick doctors don’t want you to know’ is actually just trying to get you to click on something.

Some of this would be mitigated if we brought the changes to our education system that children need for other reasons.

Lower class numbers - more adults in the room - no groups of 30 kids with one teacher - more support for SEN - MUCH longer breaktimes/ more focus on play -

Play should be the core of the day until at least 7 - 9/10/11 year olds still need hours of play each day not hours of sats provision -

If we changed our whole education system, when the weather was hot there would be less pressure - it's hard for people to imagine as our system is so insanely broken - but imagine a system with no pressure for sats/ exams - people could choose to keep kids off in hot weather, remaining children could just play/ be outside/ read under trees.

We are just animals - we don't 'need ' exam pressure for 9 and 10 year olds. or even for secondary school kids

the pressure to keep kids 'learning' has no bearing on what is good for us as humans.

Are you amusing? Nope.

I found it amusing.

"Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun."

I really feel for the French right now - it's 43 degrees in Angouleme in France🔥

I wonder everyone is coping?

I sincerely hope the French are ok. Way too hot.

2700 French schools closed or modified timetable.
49 out of 96 regional administrative areas under a red alert.

Thankyou. It’s horrible no two ways about it.

France had a terrible time in the heatwave of 2003. Lessons were learned and are being applied but there’s only so much they can do when it’s so overwhelmingly hot.

You are right that there is only so much that can be done. I see that deaths have been reported. But I’m impressed that they’re mitigating where practical.

I think plodding on without acknowledging that things can be adapted and improved is a failing.