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

Many schools are in very old.buildings they don't have air conditioning and some classrooms are like greenhouses. Heat can kill and it does.
It's much easier for someone to keep their child cool at home than it is to keep a classroom of 30 children cool.
Schools have a duty of care to the children they are not there for parents's convenience. If it isn't safe it isn't safe.
I suspect that those people complaining that their child's school has closed will be the first to try and sue the school.if their child for sunstroke or heat exhaustion because they didn't close.

I'm so sorry you fainted at school, that's horrible. Schools have a duty of care to their staff as well as the pupils and they have failed in that.

I hope you get an apology and they learn from their mistakes.

They tried to tell me to try and get to lesson afterwards… I will be raising a formal complaint.

Tbf they did backtrack afterwards when HR found out that this was also said to another ill staff member who happened to be the union rep - to “see how you go if you feel better later”.

I think I’m just overheated, unwell and angry right now though so this will be a job for next week.

How many workplaces have 30 children and up to three adults cooped up in one relatively small room?

Teachers should really have learned from Covid that nobody really cares about their welfare - as long as childcare is provided it's all good.
And before anyone says well other keyworkers kept working - yes they absolutely did. With PPE. Teachers weren't even permitted to wear masks in primary classrooms.
I couldn't see my elderly in-laws for months on end and I was concerned my own just-turned 1 yo was going to catch it from me.
Especially when we had kids coming in coughing all over the place and saying they had tested positive "but mum sent them in anyway."
This was a big factor (but by no means the only one) in deciding to leave education for me.

But the magic tape !!!!! Such amazing stuff I'm not sure why it's not used why the WHO against Ebola.

Yeah, you know when I was writing that I hoped they'd apologise, I was actually thinking 'not going to happen'. If your school had any sort of concern for the welfare of their staff or pupils, you wouldn't have been working in that classroom.

Sorry they are so shit, and I hope the union rep gives them hell.

@DancingThroughLife02 I hope you're doing ok now. This is frankly dangerous to us all. Take care 🤗

Thank you!

Not feeling dizzy anymore but the staff member that caught me twisted my arm accidentally while trying to protect my head - which absolutely was the priority.

I think the muscle in my shoulder is pulled though it’s very painful to move or lift anything.

This is so upsetting, disappointing, frustrating and disgraceful to read. I am really sorry that happened to you and you were forced into that situation. I hope you are OK. It’s wrong what’s been going on.

Make sure you complete the accident book. It needs to be logged for insurance purposes - and just in case you get any silly code back from the Powers that be.

We have named our department Death Valley. Which was funny, until we found out it's actually been hotter than the real one ! Chemicals are now being stored at the fire station near by.

It was mentioned to be written but I don’t think it has been yet, I will be sure to bring it up when I’m next in, thank you!

It was tolerable in school today at 6.45am when I was dealing with the latest data drop and checking exercise (deadlines are deadlines, after all). The DfE's servers are clearly overheating, as whilst you have 30mins from requesting an authentication code to use it to log in, for the last two days it's been around 45 minutes and today it never arrived at all.

By 9.30am, it was unpleasant and by 11.30am, absolutely horrible.

At the same time, the every 12 minutes bus services have gone to 'has anybody actually seen a bus go by this morning?' and several buses that did run yesterday broke down due to overheating on the hills, meaning passengers had to walk a couple of miles uphill in full sun.

It's not weakness to say that being in a hot, crowded area is dangerous and it's not weakness to take into account the risks of not being able to travel safely due to the heat.

Watching Vanessa on channel 5 +1 A schoolgirl was sent home for refusing to wear tights in a heatwave and ended up missing a mock exam. Like i said the UK is fucked.

I find this v v hard to believe.

Firstly, weird time to sit mocks as won't be time to mark them and do feedback before end of term. And secondly because if a head teacher is that stupid I hope they'd have been fired by now.

Our Y12s are in the middle of mocks. And there was that twatty head writing for the Spectator that said he had to wear uniform in the army when it was hot so the kids should too, so I can imagine they exist.

Katharine Birbalsingh surprised me by saying schools should close when hot because if kids are going to sleep at their desks, what’s the point (while making the point that Michaela is obviously better than that because they prioritise air con in the school budget).

Our students move up a year after the June half term and the new year 11s sit mocks. That’s to work out where any gaps are. Then it’s full on mocks in November with the view to finishing the curriculum by February half term.
it means the 7 weeks post half term are not wasted.

I stand corrected 😊. You must have a tight turn around - we usually try and give 2 weeks ! But the tights bit is still weird (unless in Scotland where it's quite chilly I've been told).

We just carry on teaching content after half term. Usually finish teaching just after Christmas. Only exams after half term are topic tests. Not sure staff would have time to write (endless) reports and do mock marking.
Can see the logic of moving up though.

Ours work 2 -3 days a week.
They do not get in early, but work late because they are doing 12 hour shifts.
You can phone at 8.30 and the receptionist will take details. She often triages, but if not sure, you wait for a call during the morning. There is always an on call GP there in the surgery.

I think that the reality of that child's situation may differ significantly from what was observed by others at the time. The school won't be able to say that 'what actually happened was...'.

But it's just after the GCSEs and A Levels have finished, so the hall, gym and random rooms that all have to be occupied by students requiring access arrangements (as you have to evidence everything as their usual way of working for JCQ to accept them for public exams) have been available this week and last for Y10 and 6L end of year exams. It's also a good time to be able to get invigilators for another fortnight.

One week for marking and the data drop, not enough time 3 days for analysis (2 days before that for chasing the departments that failed to make the deadline) and they're done, ready for the reporting template to pull the data and issue the reports. 7-9 had to be assessed earlier in classes, but some places have the space to hold those under exam conditions as well to help them be completely used to formal conditions from the start - you get fewer anxious students in Y11 if conditions are pretty much like every other exam they've done before.

The receptionist triages ?????? Are they a doctor ? How on earth can they decide who is an emergency. Scary stuff

There is no online triaging.
Most people know if they need to see the GP quickly. What’s the difference in them taking your details, if they are not sure and then passing this onto the duty doctor.
i phoned a couple of months ago and I had an appointment within the hour.

At 10 am site staff went around the building recording temps from outside each classroom (but didn't enter just stuck the probe in) and I received an urgent message to move my next class to the hall. They recorded 36 degrees. I was glad when lunch time arrived when I could leave!

I am getting mightily sick of Carole Malone, celebrity influencers etc berating schools for closing early from the air conditioned rooms (and a cruise ship).