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).

Some hotter countries close schools in extreme heat. Not sure of the temperature but my delivers in Spain and they have these days the way we have snow days.

Our science labs smelt rather grim when it got hot a few weeks ago with bottles of acid outgassing - I spent a couple of ours moving them to the fume cupboards and letting the fumes go / cooling them in the sink.

School is free childcare so both parents can go to work. I really feel sorry for teachers these days.
We get 35 minutes for lunch, cut from 50 to reduce fighting time😬.
They are allowed to wear PE kit to school this week instead of uniform.

We're a nursery and we close if it goes over 30.

I’m concerned about next week. DC’s primary have made some decent adjustments - they are going in in shorts and t shirts all week and I’ll freeze some water bottles for them - send them in hats and sun lotion.
I’m a secondary teacher and will take my fan in for my classroom and again freeze some water bottles. Our students are also in PE Kit all week. There’s lots of shade but the classrooms will be pretty horrendous.
Also getting up at 5 to walk the dog before it gets too hot. Not sure what else we can do really.
Without question schools need to have air conditioning - this weather isn’t going away.

My school is adjusting the day, the kids will be in PE kit, they will have access to water where they can fill their bottles up for drinking in lessons. It will still be a pointless waste of everyone's time to be there.

And watch a film? Funnily enough, when we used to watch films at the end of the term parents complained and said what is the point of sending them into school if they're just going to watch films. But because it's hot it's suddenly now ok to watch films instead of doing lessons?

Like during covid parents complained about any restrictions that might make kids feel even slightly uncomfortable like wearing a mask - but sticking them in a 35+ degree classroom is just fine?

Either parents should care about their kids learning nothing and being extremely uncomfortable in school or they shouldn't. They shouldn't pick and choose when they care.

Close the school and give the kids a day off

Absolutely this.

See my earlier comment about being a martyr. It’s not an ideal solution but we don’t live in an ideal world. Why suffer unnecessarily to prove a point? Presumably she has a fan and water bottles at home anyway so it’s not like it would actually cost anything.

I think we have one tree and 1400 kids.

What about working parents who can't access short notice childcare?

Poster upthread said that those kids could watch a film in the hall.

They do, and we should start ensuring our buildings are fit for purpose but unfortunately many aren’t. We have plenty of classrooms without blinds, fans, or indeed windows that open more than 5 cm

My DP teacher has forked out £30 of his own money this week on materials to make costumes for a class performance because the school's budget is already wiped out for the year, and if he didn't, some kids wouldn't have costumes because their parents don't step up. That's on top of the snacks he buys for the kids sent to school without breakfast, and the pens and books he buys Now you're saying teachers like him should buy fans and water bottles to equip the classes in a heatwave?

Instead of calling teachers martyrs, why not channel your ire towards the Govt to make sure schools are better funded in the first place?

My classroom has a fan, it blows enough to reach the first row or two of kids. I can't put a fan at the back of the class as there are no plug sockets.

Why don’t Posters read through before posting ?
Thereby, avoiding spelling mistakes and posting incorrect words ……

I do that but I don’t really want to pay too much for extra water that schools should be allowing students to fill up anyway. It gets warm in the classrooms and I’m on second floor in one of the hottest rooms in the building - I’m not carrying the water up 2 flights of stairs!

There is a lot the schools can do about temporary shading. Keeping the sun off the windows with sun sails or umbrellas.
It won’t look pretty, but it helps. Trouble is the cost. Less than aircon but more than zero.

🤣

My kids had 40 mins for lunch and sometimes couldn’t get lunch as the queue was too long and by time they had gone to the loo, got to their locker to change over equipment etc they simply couldn’t get and eat lunch. Not enough time 800 pupils in the school and one smallish canteen.

I am rather enjoying the image of the amount of umbrellas that would be required to keep the sun off my school's windows.

Many schools have shifted to a condensed day and 20m is the whole of the lunch break

the school nearest me certainly does. The kids finish the school day at like 2.30pm. I think not means there’s a lot more hanging around time after school. Not a good thing in my opinion and the overall behaviour in that school wasn’t good. It’s the tea why I chose not to send my DS there. Even tho he hated school, he conceded that he got a better education where he went than if he had gone to our local secondary school.

This is my point. Of course there should be accommodations and for those saying it’s only a week a year, realistically the temperatures are only rising. Last year they stayed above 28°C for weeks and it’s looking like it’ll be another hot summer this year.

We do need to adapt but in the meantime it’s an actual health and safety risk. Aside from the children (who should be top priority) how am I supposed to keep them safe and comfortable when I myself am dehydrated from teaching in a hot classroom all day and feeling sick and dizzy along with them. It’s not like the medical staff send students home for being too hot.

@DancingThroughLife02

could you send a text to parents highlighting that the science room is warm and they should send an extra water bottle with their child. Or give the kids a written note to allow them to get a refill

Really the school as a whole from top down should be taking measures such as this and providing fans etc. I’m surprised the parents haven’t been complaining.

Can you clarify what I missed which made my post irrelevant?

Apologies for the typos, they seem to have irritated you. Little iphone keyboards are not the easiest. (At least it proves the text isnt AI generated these days so that's a plus)

ETA - you mean read through my own text not the whole thread. You could have done with a bit more clarity there 😉 A bit of the sentence was missing "Why don't posters read through [their own posts]...."

I do wish posters would be clear.