To think closing schools or making them "optional" during the heatwave is putting pressure on working parents and is just a bit silly?

[Suchevilforebodings]

This doesn't actually effect me directly as neither of my children's schools have closed.
But some of the schools iny area are either closing or are making school optional IE: it won't be marked as absence.
I mean.... Really? Do kids actually need tome off because it's hot?
And is it fair on working parents to send out an email the day before to say school is closed? This heatwave was forecast last week.
Even making it "optional" puts the pressure on as the kids will want to stay off and many of their friends will be.
I just think it's bullshit tbh

My daughter was made to stay outside in the full sun yesterday for break and lunch and came home with a migraine which she still had this morning and feels sick.
She is home today and I am keeping safe and cool out of the sun because the school won’t.

@givememorefans Are you able to WFH or have you had to take the day as emergency dependants leave?

I’m a f/t carer for my other child who is disabled.

Teachers take emergency leave too - DH and I do! I’ve taken unpaid leave today and tomorrow. The month where the DCs had chicken pox was 4 weeks unpaid. We understand - it’s shit!

I popped on here yesterday to say that two children in my kids' class vomited from the heat yesterday. A third had a seizure today (heat induced) and was taken to hospital. And this is with shutting at 1pm.

I would have loved that when I was teaching/
I would also have loved not to deal with the violence and threats from both pupils and parents.

I hope this makes the local news so that it gets taken seriously. How awful.

Fucking hell

FFS Shameful

You couldn’t care less about your kids being hot in school is a really bizzare take.
my daughter actually is going to school as her school is open but I couldn’t say I “ couldn’t care less “ about her being effected by the heat.

There are 31 children aged 9-10 in my classoom. It's not a big room, it's a tight squeeze to move around. We have no Aircon. ( We don't even have glue sticks, rulers or maths books) We had 1 small fan. By 10.30 it was 33.5 degrees in there. Children were struggling.....there is very little shade in our grounds. Children were sent in without hats, Sun cream or water.
Anyone fancy my job????

The PP does state the school has aircon.

I think that some people would rather that children were vomiting from heat than any teachers had a day off from being in class.

It is bizarre. By demanding that teachers work in intolerable classrooms, they're demanding that children are in those same classrooms. Which is a very odd thing to be keen on.

If it made it to the papers it would somehow be the teacher's fault.

👋

You say it's putting pressure on working parents. What about the added pressure for teachers who have to work in this heat and teach a class of 30, and pressure on the kids who are hot, dehydrated and in no mood to concentrate due to the heat. It's not about working parents, it's about what works best for the kids and staff, parents don't get a look in, they just have to you know, be a responsible parent and parent

May I ask those of you who are currently teachers who have children of your own...
If your own child/children were in a school that also closed, what happened to them?

@Cheeseandolivesplease I took unpaid leave yesterday and will do today.

I'd take unpaid leave.

Absolutely it's bullshit. In Australia we often get 40 degree plus days. Terrible storms too, floods. The only time the schools are closed is if it's already flooding and driving would be dangerous, ie. children could be stranded. This puts ridiculous pressure on working families.

Schools need to have a sensible and coherent policy and if not the government needs to sort them out, as academy trusts are largely run by a bunch of overpaid numpties anyway who enjoy seeing teenagers sweating all year round in blazers for some reason.

• Change school terms to finish in June and return in August (missing the usual heatwaves)
• When hot weather is forecast shift the days to start and finish earlier.
• Uniform should be shorts/t-shirt/joggers/sweat top anyway so kids can feel.comfortable all year round, move and not wear clothes of a level of formality that bearly anyone over 18 wears.
• Build schools with heat as well as cold in mind.

Yes and your schools are FUCKING SHUT FOR HOLIDAYS AT THE HOTTEST TIME OF THE YEAR. Everything in Aus is designed around the heat. What the fuck is your argument?

Start before 9!! Staff are in at 8 anyway and many need to commute. What actual time do you expect staff to get up?

The Tories cancelled the building schools for the future programme.719 school revamps that were already signed up to the scheme were immediately halted.123 academy schemes were put under case by case reviews. They are supposed to be sorting the RAAC cement debacle and need to fund schools better as it is. So until that happens….

Why are you commenting on something that is happening on the other side of the world and doesn’t affect you? Anyway, your schools are far better equipped to cope with the heat. I sat in a classroom that was 32 at 11am, without a single fan. Btw I have taught in the Middle East, where there are measures in place to cope with hot weather but the really high temperatures come in the months when the schools are closed.