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).

In my experience primary schools are much better designed to cope with the heat. They are typically single story buildings and have large shaded outdoor areas which are often used for teaching in the summer. Additionally primary uniforms are much better for hot weather.

We have forecasts for up to 38C this week which means the temperatures in our first and second floor classrooms will be in the mid-40s, and high-40s in the south-facing ones. The windows have security tethers to stop them opening more than a crack so it’s impossible to get a through draft. There are no blinds and obviously no AC.

Luckily our SLT is reasonably sensible and is allowing PE kit for the whole week but some schools will still be insisting on blazers, ties, long trousers and tights.

When we taught in a Med school we had Summer hours from anout the end of May until the end of September, usual start time and a midday finish, on the beach about 12.30!

Differences between my DDs school in SE Europe and UK (at Primary level)

Island school...

• air conditioning
• every classroom had an outdoor shelteted area
• there was a sheltered playground
• water coolers to refill bottles (tap water not suitable)
• every classroom had a fridge for food/drink
• 7.30-1.00
• Sports day in March. PE done first thing.

UK school

• windows in direct sun
• no shade in playground
• bottles refilled from taps
• 9-3.30pm
• no fridges etc

-Sports day in June/July. PE done all day.

Because there isn't a cooler part of the building that isn't already occupied by 30-odd kids, and any shade outside isn't going to fit my class.

What do you want me to adjust lessons to? Because whatever it's adjusted to, the kids will be too hot to learn anything from it. Perhaps we could play heads down thumbs up, but just the heads down part.

It will be into the high 40s in our south facing upper story classrooms next week. The windows don’t open more than an inch and there are no blinds.

Much worse than being at home unless you live in a greenhouse.

I've been teaching for aeons and I still don't know how to plays heads down thumbs up.

Our children’s primary school closed afternoons last year because of high heat. Any children that couldn’t be collected were kept in the hall for the afternoon to watch a movie because it was the coolest place.

It’s predicted to be 35 where we live. I can’t imagine it is useful or conducive to learning to keep a room full of 6 year olds in school at that temperature.

I’ve also been to school in a country where temperatures were often hitting 40. We had A/C, started school at 7am and were home for the hottest period of the day.

Some of the latest models are showing it could get up to 40 degrees. Hopefully that will come down over the next few days. 35.6 degrees is our current UK/England record for June.

I'm kind of split when it comes to schools. On one hand I can't imagine much learning can take place if everyone is extremely hot and uncomfortable. But on the other its life and many of us will have worked in more uncomfortable environments. Its not like restaurants, hospitals or factories etc will be closing.

I imagine a lot of parents will keep their children at home that day. Not at great idea by the school - is there not a health assessment done before events?

I'm appalled that only 20 minutes is allocated for the school lunch break! That is far too short. If it were a workplace, it would be at least 30 minutes, often a full hour.

I recall my own school days. At primary school the lunch break began at about 12:00 and ended at about 13:45. At secondary school, it started at about 12:15 and ended at about 13:45. About 40 minutes of that time was spent eating lunch and the remainder was free time.

I remember doing heads down thumbs up towards the end of the day - took me well into adulthood to realise by that point the teacher just needed relief from 30 odd 8 year olds.

I’d go against the grain and say schools should close if it’s too hot for kids and staff to work, at least in the afternoon. No one gets anything productive done when they’re far too hot to work, and at home kids can dress in cooler clothes, have cold drinks and ice lollies to cool down, or stay in a cooler part of the house.

My kids finish for summer next week (guaranteeing rain for the next 6 weeks), and the weather here is more temperate, but I wouldn’t hesitate to keep them home in 30 degree plus weather.

Our school has water fountains and they can bring in a water bottle, so they can have a drink whenever they want.

Adjust the day - wear shorts and T-shirt- lots of cool drinks and watch a film - there must be some which are entertaining and have some educational value

That’s true. But the schools by me in a hot country have metal blinds on the windows which are kept closed so the rooms don’t heat up. They also have fans on the ceilings. In the UK the fashion for 60s schools was to have windows as huge as possible. Which also don’t open. Include 30 hot breathing bodies crammed in - who are all simultaneously moaning that ‘they’re hot!’ Awful.

My Y4 classroom was 33c on Friday. I have blinds and fans, but I also have an entire wall of glass windows that get direct sunlight for much of the day.
I don’t think schools should be put in the position of having to think about closing, instead should get the funding to make them safe and comfortable to work in when it gets hot.
It is due to be 36c on Wednesday, meaning it will
go above 40 in the classroom. Im dreading it!

Oh god that sounds horrendous. I thought a learning walk would be a version of our daily mile - and would involve actual walking somewhere not a shit term for observed practice. You definitely don’t want that with a class of melting teenagers.

OP, why don’t you just bring some big bottles of water into your classroom and let your students fill up from there?

I used to bring a fan in from home when I was teaching.

So she should pay out of her own pocket and provide her own resources?

Unfortunately they have to stay open legally and as many parents both work, they wouldn’t be able to get childcare at such short notice.

No, they don't all manage all those things, some take packed lunches and others don't eat because they know it is pointless queuing (eg. My daughter). Some also don't drink all day in case they need the toilet and won't have time to queue (also my daughter).

They could change the hours if they weren't so dependent on buses and parents' childcare arrangements.

We don't get acclimatised in this country because acclimatisation takes about 10 days and we rarely have more than a week at a time of any type of heat or cold before it changes again.

School of about 800 - 30 minute break mid morning and 20 minutes for lunch. Lots of water filling points but the students choose to all pile into those when the bell has gone, not during breaks when there is no queue. Some then pierce a hole in the top of their plastic bottle and squirt it at eachother, before asking in the middle of a lesson to go and fill it up. 🤷 They have time to fill up between lessons too so the maximum time anyone could go without a drink is 50 minutes.

Ours are allowed to wear shorts when it is hot (actually any time of year and some do) and we have ties off, shirts undone at the collar. Thin cotton uniform shirts are cooler than the PE shirts so I’m not sure why we have them asking to wear those every year but we do. A lot of students complain that they are hot while simultaneously sitting with their jumper on.

In my classroom (old Victorian building) half the windows fall open and let birds in, so they are bolted shut. The others just let hot air in from 11am onwards. If you’re lucky enough to have a fan, it just moves hot air round.

We have about four rooms in the whole school that have air con and we can book a room swap if they are available.

I feel physically unwell when I get home after a day of teaching in the heat. I’ve tried electrolytes, salted nuts, a neck fan. Nothing helps. I’m honestly dreading next week.

I don’t think school should close - we would never get anything done - but we need help. Investment for air con, the flexibility to start earlier and finish earlier for example. Or be radical and shift the holidays to June/July because the hot weather is always end of June/start of July!

Yes. My DP teaches primary in London and is utterly dreading this week. Poorly ventilated classrooms and children wilting at their desks is not a good environment for just sitting still, let alone attempting any meaningful learning!

Schools can barely afford to maintain buildings, let alone install air con, but they're going to have to make it a priority as our summers get hotter.

I think all schools should relax their strict rules about uniforms and water during very hot weather. IMO they shouldn't close, because many DC don't have anywhere to go and DPs still need to work. Not allowing water bottles in classrooms or allowing refilling during lessons is dangerous and stupid and flexibility is needed during very hot weather, not just for DC either, but for teachers. I also think that flexibility is required in terms of how/where classes are conducted. If certain classrooms are too hot, is there an alternative?

I think it's a decision for individual schools to make, but honestly reading some of these posts makes me cross.

Schools are in loco parentis for children and responsible for keeping them safe and comfortable. If they can't, they should close. It's completely unacceptable to have hot, dehydrated kids not being allowed to refill water bottles, being chucked out into the sun at breaks and wearing sweaty uniform. Schools need to employ a modicom of common sense and to remember their obligation to safeguard pupils' health and welfare. It sounds like secondary schools are especially inflexible in this regard, and many primary schools do a better job.

Is there any chance of taking any classes out into the grounds for a lesson and teaching them under a tree or something?