Are you sending your children to school Tuesday and Wednesday?

[wonderouswelly]

I am a teacher and have heard lots of parents won’t be sending their children in during the heat wave next week.

Are you keeping yours off?

I am dreading it as a teacher; our classroom is so stuffy!

Primary schools (and a number of secondary schools) have a secure perimeter fence.

It’s not nonsense. It’s physics. If your house is cooler than the outside, cool air goes out, hot air comes in. That’s the “breeze” you feel if there isn’t actually one outside. You just make your house hotter. There’s a reason why people in hit countries don’t have their windows open wide all day.

I am going against the grain here but I won’t be sending my son if it goes over 35 deg. But he has an underlying condition and is on immunosuppressants that mean he can’t regulate his body temperature so I have good reason. We have an air conditioning unit at home for his rom. Good luck everyone this week and roll on the cool down next weekend!

Yes but they also have different building materials and window shutters chalk

My house is never cooler than outside.

Notwithstanding it's still better than a public building like a school or hospital.

If the air outside is getting hotter its not gonna cool your house down. I shut the windows and curtain after 9am on the hot side.

My son has a similar taxi ride but I'm confused at why this is an issue? Cars are air conditioned.

No, there is something to be said for moving air. Moving air will more effectively remove sweat from your skin which is how you cool down.

It’s not solely about the temperature of the air.

Yes of course they’ll go. Their schools have air con and our house doesn’t !

It's going to be 38°+ here. Not 26-30.

We will be open, but I am dreading it. My classroom has 2 full walls of windows that open 1 inch each. We are not allowed to open a door as we have some ASD children that 'run' - mainstream.
We have an allocation of 1 small tabletop fan and 1 larger tower fan. They just move hot air around.
In reality, no learning will take place as the children will be uncomfortable, tired, snappy, and unable to concentrate. All very understandable. However, we will not close; we never do. I will just try to keep the room as chilled (both meanings) as possible and we'll see how it goes.
British school buildings are not prepared for this heat. Ideally we'd have air conditioning, but far too expensive on non-existent budget. In Europe, most have awnings outside windows to shade the room, but (once again) no budget.

I forgot to mention the most ridiculous thing. All blinds are metal! They actually heat the room further.

I'm amazed that you know where that poster grew up, and how the buildings are designed.

Yep. My son’s school are being very sensible, cos they have said that no blazers, ties or jumpers are to be worn at all next week.

Above 35 degrees moving air actually dehydrates you more.

They have three months off for summer. And in some parts of Italy where it was still 35 in September they sent them all home at midday for the week.
Met is saying 38 on Tuesday for me and 39 on Wednesday.

You do you. I come from a country with very hot summers. Our flat is always at least a few degrees cooler (if not more when DH doesn’t interfere with my system) than outside. I can actually feel the difference when I walk in.

Windows /doors wide open in the early morning/at night(if cooler outside), then shut as soon as it gets warmer. Blinds /curtains pulled as much as possible. Appliances/lights off as much as possible. Minimal cooking. Didn’t have more than 26 degrees inside during the may half term.

Drink water then

I can see the consensus is everyone going in. I’ll be keeping mine off and have arranged a babysitter as i need to go to work. They won’t be learning anything in this heat and to my mind the only place to be when it’s north of 35 degrees is by a pool with an ice cream which is where the babysitter will take them. I think expecting kids to sit all day in hot classrooms and learn is torture

and sure of course kids go to school in dubai but those places have aircon they’re set up for it.

We have the windows and doors open all day and its usually still cooler in than out, in the evening we have the air con machines on if it's too hot so all doors and windows closed

38°/39° isn't just 'summer' in the U.K.

our buildings are not designed for it, our bodies are not used to it.

This is my DH's most impressive skill 😂

It's like his summer hobby - he's got a careful schedule of opening and shutting windows and blinds depending on temperature outside and position of the sun. It makes a huge difference!

They're the ones I really feel for. Imagine doing exams in the predicted heat.

Can we swap? DH doesn’t get it! He does enjoy the effects though , so he does at least try to stick to the rules . We’ve argued about it a lot in the past though.

Of course they will be there

I’ve never taught in a school that has air conditioning in rooms other than computer rooms - which were always fully booked in hot weather!

Anyway, not everywhere in the UK is forecast a heat wave, it’s going to be cooler in the NW, still warm but not too high.

As I posted earlier in the thread, you can get heatstroke even if you are hydrated if your core temperature gets too high. Which is more likely if you have windows open letting 39c heat in. We’ll have our windows closed during the day but we’ll also cover the glass from the outside.