AIBU to question calls for schools to close during hot weather?

[Alwaysperplexedwithlife]

I am so perplexed about parents wanting schools to close in this heat. My house is nearing 40 degrees and I have hybrid working so on wfh days I’m sweltering. I’m happier that my child is in the classroom where she has told me it’s ‘only’ 30 degrees! She is still learning, is happy and is also not thinking it is an excuse to not be in school which is a great trait to have. Has never entered her mind so why are parents pushing this to give their kids an excuse to not be in school and ultimately it not transverse into working life of not having an excuse to not go to work! This is the hidden agenda I see coming from this and nothing to do with the health of the child. Are the parents pushing this also work shy parents themselves? (Medical reasons exempt from this discussion)

My daughters school is like a bloody greenhouse, lots of glass, no air con, just heat and sunshine blazing in all day, factor in 30 kids in class then yes yabu

My kids school been amazing - the computer room has air con so they all taking turns in there - they have 1 very shaded playground so have had a sprinkler set up so they taking turns out there

they next to a lovely park with massive trees so been doing activities and stuff out there

dining hall is staying cool not a lot of windows and blinds down on the ones that there’s so after school club been in there - heaps of fans going - and they’ve taken some kids to the computers during after school club too taking turns to keep them cool

no uniform for rest of year

in so glad cus I can’t take any time off work especially with summer hols about to start

I’ve seen you on lots of moany teacher threads on here over the years so you must be a teacher of some sort so I’m not sure why you’re acting clueless. Kids learn by repetition, they see the curriculum more than once, some kids learn better in a smaller group. Some teachers can recognise that and make the most of a quieter day with a smaller group and a kid that struggles in a busy noisy class. All of which is pretty obvious, but you’d rather call the poster/her kids school liar's.

Schools that stayed open in the previous heatwave have been told by Ofsted that the low attendance, due to permitting parents to make a choice, will be counted against their stats. If the school average drops below a certain percentage they cannot achieve some of the upper levels of Ofsted inspection. Schools that closed fully don't have the absences counted against them. This essentially punishes Schools who tried to do the right thing for children and their parents.

I suspect many teachers out there will.be hoping Ofsted have the common sense and decency not to inspect for the remainder of the school year.

Have you got 30 children stuffed into one room in your house?

And with regards to you working from home, why haven’t you got a fan?

Fans in a few rooms, you and your children can sit in front of them. Much harder to cool down a classroom full of children with a couple fans

Teaching in these conditions is tough. Teaching two weeks ago in 37 C with an Ofsted inspector in my classroom was even tougher.

It not as daft this week, so wouldn't close. But based on the 39 C+ measured in our English department, it's just not sensible to have 30 bodies crammed into it.

One of my staff asked for permission to do rest of her hours on the Saturday heatwave few weeks ago as her attic office was over 40 degrees. Of course I said yes, as who can work in that? Awful.

There were only 5 kids in the class presumably because it was boiling. Kids can't learn when it's boiling for one. A teacher attempting to continue the 'normal' curriculum of maths and phonics is on a hiding to nothing in that situation. In addition, if your class has 5 kids in, attempting to continue as normal is silly.

Have you ever taught?

Humans emit heat! Small humans in synthetic fibres doubly so!

Unless your home has 30+ people in a room it's highly unlikely to be more uncomfortable than the majority of school classrooms right now.

Well he thrived, he wasn't too hot and he came out very happy to get so much teacher focus, they didn't close the school, he went in. Baffled why this is an issue 🫠

Apologies if this has already been mentioned, but I think some people forget that children also have to commute to and from school, which may mean a fair bit of time out walking in the baking heat, or sat on packed public transport with no air con.

🤣🤣🤣

I had a conundrum a couple of weeks ago with my daughter in the last heat wave. My daughter had heat exhaustion first thing, we got her hydrated again and monitored. She wasn't well enough for school when she woke up at 5 but by 9 o'clock she was perky and looked fine. I now had no concerns about heat exhaustion but contemplated keeping her at home. The school building is cooler than our house so I sent her in mid morning. She came home at 3.15 on the edge of heat stroke with a body temperature of 39oC. I managed to get her body temperature down and fluids into her which stopped it escalating and needing urgent medical treatment. Whilst the school was cooled than at home, I would have been more intune with my daughter than the teacher is. 1. I know her better and she is very good at masking and 2. I only have her to look after not another 29 children.

The teachers were pushing water but hadn't noticed that she had stopped eating, this meant that whilst she was taking on hydration she hadn't replaced electrolytes. This is something that would have been more obvious at home and I also would have had a greater range of food options to tempt her to eat.

I spoke to the head about how they managed the weather and she said broadly it was the Friday that school was the hottest but this was actually the day my daughter struggled the least so the changes they needed on the Friday needed instigating for my daughter in the preceding days. In future warm weather I will keep her at home if she is struggling with the heat and, when she is in school, the school will do monitored snack times to ensure that she is eating as well as drinking.

I think we know the answer to that question 😂

Yes, wish OP had to teach in one of the hotter classrooms (lovely for her kid if it's cool, but not all classrooms are like this), often without breaks, and dealing with kids with profound needs. Sure it's the same as wfh where she can get iced drinks out!
Teachers, I respect you and couldn't do it. But you shouldn't be expected to either.

Oh my , my sympathies are with you in that case!

Yes they are mad over attendance nowadays but presumably parents can cite that they feel their children will be safer at home due to the heat being unmanageable at school rather than at home? Especially without adequate provisions to keep them cool?

Absolute rubbish. There’s no way I’m teaching a class of 5 phonics just to redo it the week after.

I realise that, but I bet there is more that your school could do with a bit of planning.

Like it or not, this weather is going to become more frequent and we have to take it in our stride somehow.

The options that will make an difference are to change school term dates so we break up in June, change the timings of school in the summer so they start earlier and finish earlier in the day, or to retrofit classrooms with air conditioning.

A fan and closing the blinds really doesn't cut it in most schools.

It is but with very limited budget and and a 250 year old building options are very limited. We did everything possible but it hardly touched the sides.

We didn’t shut, as a primary school we would be unlikely too unless very dangerous but it’s still not good for anyone.

We had to fight to get leaking windows replaced. We aren’t getting air con or anything else any time soon and most schools will be in the same position.

My hardy son who is phased by nothing and super chilled out fainted in class when it hit 35°. Since then I’m fully aboard team send them home.

likely just redid old lessons as practise went home told mum they did math and phonics.

Same here in West Sussex, we break up on the 22nd, I really wish it was the Friday before..

My child’s classroom reached 36c inside. Home was a cool 23 thanks to a portable air con unit. We also had fans, ice lolly’s, paddling pool and fans. I decided to use the time wisely and have a 1:1 afternoon with my school aged child watching Toy Story at the air conned cinema. I rarely get this time as littlest is always here. Littlest happened to be at his lovely modern air conned nursery.