Nursery keeping children inside all day because of heat

[AleaEim]

Just curious if all nurseries sre the same. I’m mostly happy with the nursery my 18m old attends but since the hot weather has kicked in the nursery are keeping them indoors all day despite having a lovely big garden. I don’t see why they can’t out be in the morning, say before 10 or even before 9, I spoke to the manager who said uv levels are too high even in the mornings but I think it’s just an excuse as I’ve checked this and uv levels are not high early in the morning. My daughter attends a childminders on the other three days a week and they go out in her shady garden with the paddling pool nearly every day. I’m just thinking that 15 babies in a room all day in nursery isn’t healthy and wondering whether I should send her to the childminder full time. This weather doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.

Just an update if anyone is interested so when it was really hot in london 30 plus they did not take them out at all which I think is OTT as in the morning it’s always bearable and safe to do so. Anyway last week it was still nice and sunny here with a breeze, around 27 and when I did pick up they were playing outside at around 4pm, I think they may have went out in the morning too. Today I went to pick up and they have only been outside once for an hour in the morning, I asked what about afternoon and one of the staff says no it’s too hot. It’s 25 degrees today with a breeze. I think it’s ridiculous tbh, it’s complete heat wave hysteria if you ask me and seems inconsistent since they were outside more last week when it was warmer. Outdoor time is important to me and I chose the nursery because they had a forest school/ outdoor ethos.i can only imagine what it’s like for the older kids age 2-4 being kept in during the summer and personally I think the nursery are being lazy. We might take her out and will make a decision over the weekend. The thing that make me want to keep her there are the connections she will have with other children when she goes to school which won’t be for another few years so maybe it’s a silly reason. Nurser places have 1 year waiting list around here and this nursery is rated best in the area by ofsted standards.

Maybe they would rather err on the side of caution, @AleaEim. I don’t think the children will get ill from missing outdoor play for a day, or even a few days, but they can get heatstroke. Is it really worth the risk - especially as some parents (obviously not you) would definitely blame the nursery if their child became ill due to the heat.

I also work in early years. The temperature, UV levels, shaded areas and ratio will ll impact on when and how they can safely take children in the outdoor spaces.
for example with the hot weather children come in to the nursery anytime from 8 - 9:15 so we were outside in the shade from 9:30 only for an hour. Inside playing and learning for an hour. Lunch in an air conditioned room for the next hour. This room the children also sleep in. Those who don’t sleep got an opportunity to play in another air conditioned part of the building which is used by the public in the morning. Then we would venture back outside in the shade after 4pm when the temp dropped

Our nursery has air con so in the heatwave they were inside most of the time aside from a brief stint in the shaded garden first thing and last thing. I was happy with that, extreme heat is dangerous particularly for young children