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!

Good god.

today’s kids/parents would’ve never survived the 70s with this lack of resilience

If schools are open, they need to keep children safe and well. It's that simple, really.

As a parent, I'm not allowed to make an individual call about keeping my child off school if the school is open. That's an unauthorised absence.

I have to trust the school and teachers to make sensible decisions to keep my child safe.

My sons school is expecting them to walk 3 miles in full uniform (blazer and tie) to PE field then do 3 hrs athletics in the sun with 1 water bottle (not allowed to refil). So yes, I may keep him home that day

What’s always great is the line about how there is pressure for kids to attend school, fines for holidays, etc. as if that’s anything to do with teachers. They don’t write the policies, they don’t enforce them and they don’t issue the fines! That’s the school leadership team (in part only) and the government!

So, I am just wondering what , in your average secondary school classroom , you think that looks like wilted?

Since there is no legal limit in UK law for high temps,we cannot close (aside form otehr reasons) so what would you have us do?

I wouldn't be judging the teachers I would be judging the leadership team

Unfortunately the people making decisions about issues such as schools opening/closing, attendance and whether children can leave the classroom to get water (!) are not the teachers who are in the room actually caring for your child day to day.

The teacher here are just reporting the conditions in their schools, which in some cases sound horrendous and not a place I’d want my child to spend all day. They have no control over these things themselves as it’s SLT and the DofE that write the guidance and make the rules.

You’re right that it’s the schools responsibility to risk assess and parents shouldn’t have to worry that their children are being sent into unhealthy environments, but you can’t be annoyed at the teachers as they have no actual control over these decisions. They are just told to enforce the rules, at the risk of being penalised if they don’t follow instructions.

Yes schools are in loco parentis whilst your child is there but unfortunately no one cares about your child like you do, so as a parent it is still your responsibility to make sure that they school you are sending your child to everyday is a safe and healthy environment for them. If it isn’t, it’s your responsibility to advocate for them or move them to a different school.

So , again, what do you think they should do?

I am not a teacher and I'm not familiar with the set up of most schools (apart from my child's) so I suspect my views on what should be done would be much less useful than those of teachers at the coalface.

But as a parent I have to trust my child's school and teachers to keep my child safe. I'm legally required to send my child in, I don't have another option.

If schools can't keep children safe and well in the hot weather, then regardless of the lack of maximum temperature rules, they need to admit this and close for the children and staff's safety and welfare.

• make it non uniform so children can wear suitable clothing
• possibly operate a reduced timetable
• supply fans /air conditioning to the worst classrooms (as a minimum)

There's no point educating children if they are too hot to think

Nonsense. My mum said that in 76 many schools did close, some just closed early, some just took children to the park. She also said that back then the holidays started earlier so the prolonged hot weather was mostly in the summer holidays anyway.

I've also checked and peak in 1976 was 35 degrees, in August. Many places are predicted higher than this over the next few days, often with smaller classrooms with more children.

To those of you who think kids are going soft and they and their teachers should just get on with it in the extreme heat of a classroom for hours on end -

How is your own working/living environment? Will you have blackout blinds, air con, a fan or two, access to cool water all day, breaks galore where you can wrap a wet towel/flannel over you, or are you in an environment like the kids at school?

I think there are limits to what people/kids can endure, and it then becomes counter productive because everyone is feeling unwell, falling asleep, hot and bothered, and can't concentrate.

you can’t be annoyed at the teachers as they have no actual control over these decisions. They are just told to enforce the rules, at the risk of being penalised if they don’t follow instructions.

If the teachers think that the welfare of the pupils is at risk and management aren't taking it seriously, then surely this is a safeguarding issue which should be reported.

You still haven't said what you want us to actually do wilted?

I also remember people getting ill from heatstroke!

And I used to really struggle with the heat, my mum has memories of getting me to sit and do my homework in the cellar with my feet in a bucket of cold water !

I am not sure that is correct. The hottest June day ever was in 1976 . That was 35.6 degrees. It is set to be toppled this week.

I'd like 1976 records to topple. It's become like the 1966 World Cup.

Exactly. What's the point in a charade of pretending to teach while children pretend to learn and everyone just feels desperately hot and miserable

I am not a teacher and I give my team the option to work from home if it gets too hot in the office. I expect we will all also do reduced hours and take longer lunch breaks. (we have flexible working ).

There will be loads of people skiving on Wednesday anyway, mainly because of too much alcohol the night before

Did you even read the post I was replying to?

Ah, sorry if I got the month wrong.

YOU may be experiencing a 'warm summer' but 37/39 PLUS after 13 last week is not simply a warm summer. It's the fluctuations as well as heat we're not set up to have here.

ours is already forecast 40° on Wednesday. It's always a couple of degrees hotter here than wherever they take the reading from too.

They also take the temp in the shade , not in the burning sun.

🙄🙄

I didn't say the unbearable situation was funny FFS.

just the 'glass' windows. Of course they're glass, bricks don't make great windows!

Except even back then , not everyone just “got on with it” and adjustments were made.

Back home it can get to mid 40s for long periods and I had an upbringing closer to the 70s/80s than most people my age born here.Guess what? I still struggle in a heatwave.

Reported to whom? The government/DofE is ultimately responsible for issuing guidance to ensure the conditions in schools are safe and healthy for children. Guidance to close for heat or allow for more flexible attendance would need to come from them. Funding for cooling methods, air conditioning, fans etc would obviously also need to come from government, but obviously government aren’t in schools everyday to see the conditions. Schools are poorly funded so it’s only likely to become a priority once there are serious issues or incidents that force the government to invest in this particular issue.

School SLT can make smaller changes (eg flexible uniform, water breaks etc) but they don’t have the power to do much more, and DofE guidance is currently telling them to push attendance at all costs so this is what they will do.