AIBU to think school closures ignore parents' work commitments?

[OhNoItsThePinkyPonk]

AIBU to think that the school doesn’t take much account of parents’ need to work? Primary school have just announced they won’t be opening for the rest of the week, but it’s OK because they’ll be sending us online work for us to do with the children, and whilst they are sorry they have had to cancel sports day we shouldn’t be too upset because they’ve have rescheduled it for a couple of weeks time. Like, I totally get they have to put the safety of the children first and if it’s too hot it’s too hot, but what do they think I’m
doing when the kids are at school, preparing beautiful dinners, ensuring the craft box is topped up, pining wistfully for the moment they come home? FFS, my job obviously comes second to my children and of course I’ll cancel planned surgeries and clinics where I need to. It’s not the emergency that bothers me, it’s the blasé way in which it’s communicated as though it’s a
minor inconvenience, not a major major f’ing headache with serious second and third order effects.

phew, that’s better. Now to go and get the little darlings…

Pity one of the kids cant throw up on her

My classroom has no fan, despite promises. I did go into another room that had a fan and unless you stood right by it, it made no difference. Really to make a difference it would need to be those big ceiling fans.

We had an email at 1315 saying we could pick our kids up from 1330. Interesting observation not many kids were left! Schools across the Trust all closed tomorrow also. Is showing 40 here currently.

Malaysian schools (like many in tropical places) are built with ventilation in mind. The key is that it is 22 - 32 degrees C, so they do not need to be built to conserve heat like British buildings are.

I have been to school in the tropics with no air con but we had lovely open buildings made of wood, high ceilings, awnings, lots of shade, ceiling fans... it is not a useful comparison.

That said, even in Malaysia, they are finding that not all buildings are suitable as temperatures increase so are looking how to improve them:
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/803581

Malaysia also has specific temperature thresholds for closing:
The two-level alert system:
A Level 1 alert is issued when daily maximum temperatures of 35–37°C persist for at least three consecutive days. A Level 2 (heatwave) warning is issued when temperatures of 37–40°C persist for three days in a row. Free Malaysia Today
What schools must do at each level:

• 35–37°C for 3 consecutive days (Level 1): Outdoor activities must be suspended, including cross-country runs, camping, drills, and other outdoor activities. China Daily
• Above 37°C for 3 consecutive days (Level 2): Schools may close. This is part of guidelines set by the Ministry of Education since 2023

How does she think teachers are keeping classrooms cool? With what? When I taught the walls were predominantly glass, no fan let alone air con, one tap with lukewarm rather than cold water and 30 small bodies plus me and a TA. I remember the 2022 heatwave. It was awful. I felt so worried being responsible for all these hot little beings age 5-6 with nothing at my disposal other than wet flannels (which I got the children to bring in). Luckily my HT sent the children home at lunchtime as the temperature in my south facing classroom was in the 40s.

Tell me you don’t work in a school without telling me!
At home kids can have cool showers, maybe a paddling pool, ice lollies. They can spread out. They can strip off.
At school there are 30+ bodies in one room, often with two or three walls made entirely of glass, so like a greenhouse. As for blinds .. often these don’t work or are simply not provided.
Do you really think teachers haven’t thought to go off the curriculum and to slow down?

There is no learning going on when children are overheating, uncomfy and sweaty. We are only in the amber area and today has been rediculously warm in the classrooms even with us taking every step we can to keep them cool. The children are grumpy and unable to focus, We (very rightly!) spent half of the day filling water bottles and the children were back and forth to the toilet.

We aren’t shutting but I get why schools where it is even hotter are!

I’ll tell you what’s not sustainable. Everything coming to a standstill when the weather gets hot, when we know it’s probably going to happen several days/weeks a year from now on. It’s only June, we’re almost certain to have more very hot days coming up. And what “backup plan” do you suggest when there’s another thread discussing how childminders are all closing for the afternoons too. As a society we will need to start coming up with better plans than this.

School is education. Not a babysitting service.

We all understand that. OP was mainly venting about the blasé way short-notice closures are announced.
Just stick to the facts - school will be closed due to the heat.

What plans would you suggest?

We do not have the money for AC. We simply don't. We can barely afford the basics. We've had a two year recruitment freeze and our budget is still fucked. We'll be lucky if we get through the next year without making anyone redundant. The only way AC is achievable is if it's fully funded by the Government and that's highly unlikely to happen.

School is ALSO childcare. If schools didn’t exist then we’d be paying for childcare like we do before they go to school. This old BS again 🙄

Literally everyone you know has one parent sitting at home all day, not working or making any other commitments, because they don't have "childcare" for their school aged kids?

I still come back to the loos! Hydrating is all well and good, but what goes in must come out, and toilet accessibility at my kids school, anyway, was extremely low, and they were so bloody awful the kids didn't want to use them nohow.

@BringBackCatsEyesif they said they were closing early last week everyone would be up in arms that the weather could change that far in advance.

If you are a consultant who operates on people and have planned clinics then you really should have a good back up plan rather than just ‘cancelling’ clinics and surgeries.
I presume you realise people go to the back of the queue when surgeons/consultants cancel their clinics/surgeries??
School is a place of education -not a childcare provider -and people with hugely responsible roles which the taxpayer pay the wages of should really hve a plan B rather than causing massive upset and potential health issues for ll the patients they just ‘cancel’.
If you are not a surgeon/consultant please disregard this post. 😀
I havent RTFT so if someone else has already pointed this out -sorry!

Lol, I do work in a school 😂

In which case you must know that homes are not as hot as most classrooms

There are some people who work in schools who never go near a classroom, tbf.

Fair point @noblegiraffe

Our schools finish Friday for summer hols anyway. They’ve stayed open this week despite weather but only had 2 days of really hot so far and there’s fun activities for end of school year. I can’t be off (NHS) but luckily have GPs who could step in. Prob won’t last long but hope we don’t get the scary thunderstorms like England. It sounds great to have sunny weather but not so good in the scary thunderstorms after. ATM naked in bed. Given up on football. Maybe World Cup should be in winter in whatever country! Never heard of hydration breaks before but great they have them

The sort of thing I am thinking about is getting involved in building and refurbishing schools, going back 30 years (that's how long we've known we have a warming world).
There is a lot of passive cooling that could have been put in, but instead as several posters have said, large areas of glass on South side with no trees - trees even being cut down.
Trees
Shades over windows
Windows with exterior shutters as a unit
White roofs
Passive ventilation including eg Roof windows that can be opened to release heat

Even without this, schools could be painting their South facing windows with greenhouse shading. Better summer uniforms. Stop cooking hot food.

And have an actual plan for extreme hot weather instead of having to scramble and leave kids waiting for buses at midday.

The cost of this week's closures is massive. If the heat continues are the schools going to close again? When are the years 10 and 12 going to do their mocks? When is the curriculum learning going to catch up?

Well I live in a smallish newbuild that is hot as hell and the school I work in, being a much larger buildng, is actually much cooler.

I think the obvious point is that all buildings are different.

Larger buildings are subdivided into smaller bits called rooms which can get as hot as hell. Not sure what the size of the building has to do with it.

The small rooms filled with 32 children? Or an office somewhere with just you and a fan?