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!

This is a good point actually. Schools in hot countries usually break up for summer hols mid - end June whereas in England and Wales, it’s the back end of July.

Scotland and NI break up end of June - perhaps we need to change to this too?

They also have really long summer holidays in much of the ROW. Sure that would go down well.

Do what you think best. The kids are in your care. I wouldn't dream of patronising teachers by telling them how to do their jobs.

What it comes down to is that either schools can take sufficient measures to keep children safe and well, or they can't. If they can't, they should shut. If children are being put at risk and neglected because they're overheating and no one's doing anything about it, then this needs to be reported. I'd be very cross if I picked my child up from school and he'd been allowed to become seriously dehydrated or overheated. I trust his school to take care of him and, if they can't, return him to my care.

If individual teachers are afraid of reporting unsafe working conditions and safeguarding concerns to management, or they think it's pointless because management won't do anything about it, then that's a separate issue.

I just don't think you get it. Schools can't cool down . And they can't legally close either as the law does not legislate for extreme heat.

Schools close for snow days and in other circumstances where pupil and staff welfare is at risk. I would have thought that it's irresponsible for the headteacher to keep the school open if it's a danger to pupils/teachers.

And I do get it actually. I get that a lot of schools can't really do anything, a lot of management are shit and a lot of individual teachers will keep shtum because they're afraid of challenging the status quo. I'm sure some schools are shit workplaces, just as a lot of other workplaces are as well.

But equally when you have kids in your care, you have to look after them. And if you can't, they shouldn't be there.

That's because of safety of getting to school and those decisions are often legislated by LAs and bus companies.

Teachers and even SLT are limited in what they are able to do. They need to follow guidance from DofE. They cannot just independently choose to close for heat. The factors that are actually within their control are very limited.

Teachers can complain to management, but management can’t do anything that is out of government guidance.

School leaders can complain to the DofE and some probably do but that doesn’t mean anything will change in the near future.

So, I'll get my head to close our school. And then sit back and watch the reaction on MN!

Yes , because there is legislation and guidance around that.

It sounds like this would be the right solution if there's nothing you or the school can do to avoid an intolerable working environment for pupils and staff.

Yes, some parents will be cross but that's life.

Yes, they close in situations where it is advised by the guidance for schools to close. There is no guidance to close for heat. It is not the head teacher just making unilateral decisions on these issues, they are following official guidance.

This is not my area so I'll admit to a degree of ignorance, but I would have thought that it would be neglect on the part of the school if they're literally sitting around watching classes of children succumbing to heat exhaustion and heatstroke and not doing anything about it, regardless of whether there is legislation or not.

Okay, and it was that temperature here a few summers back, and our son went to school
then too. We haven’t suddenly invented heat.

We can’t just keep repeating temperatures until it goes away, that’s completely useless and won’t change the fact it is 30+ degrees.

I appreciate it’s uncomfortable, and buildings etc aren’t necessarily set up for it, but this isn’t the first or last time that it’s been that hot.

Adjustments do need to be made, but we can’t just stop the world in the meantime because we’re experiencing hotter temperatures.

People have jobs to do, not all of which can stop because of the heat, and if nothing else it teaches kids that extreme temperatures do happen, and life does have to go on as best it can.

Even more mind boggling, the school day starts earlier and the length of the school day depends on age. It’s only older teens that would be out and about at 2/3/4 o’clock at the end of the school day. Lessons are 50 minutes long with a 10 minute break after each one and kids don’t have to go outside if they don’t want to, but plenty of time to use toilets, drink, refill bottles etc. , especially since we don’t move classrooms except for PE, computing, science practicals . Buildings are designed for it, playgrounds tend to have shade , and no PE lessons in the direct sun at 2pm. Uniform rules are fairly lax. My blazer lived on the back of my chair all year round.

Not sure if you’re aware then, but in the winter of 2020 government ministers threatened schools with lawsuits because they wanted to shut early for the Christmas break due to being in Covid hotspots. That’s how the government reacts when a school is trying to be sensible due to their specific circumstances, if it goes against specific guidance/legislation.

The issue isn’t schools.

We will try our best with what we have. We will turn a blind eye where possible to the sudden “tummy bug/headache/fever” claims. We will ring parents if children seem unwell/not themselves. We will give frequent water breaks, reminders and adjust the day. We will do our best to keep kids in the shade, but shade is limited. We will relax uniform rules. We’ll check kids have suncream on and hats. And so on. We’re still limited as to what we can do , and it will still be uncomfortable.

It is character building for children to face harsh conditions and prevail. You can't wrap the world in cotton wool for them, they have to learn to struggle and succeed through the challenges life can thrown at them.

No wonder the younger generation are known as snowflakes. We had hot weather when i we were kids. We went to school. Honestly I despair.

Chelmsford, London, Egham, Billericay, Cambridge… 🥵

Yes the good old days when four year olds got up at 4 am to walk 93 million miles by themselves to school on the sun and didn’t complain at all in fact they actually
got home before their parents cooked dinner then went off to war all before bed. Ffs

I’d like to see a peer reviewed study explaining how heatstroke increases psychological resilience in children

Well, as I and my colleagues do actually work in a school, I can assure you that you are correct, we don’t have any of the lovely cooling features you describe. SLT would love to provide black out blinds and fans but we don’t have any money for these! We can’t even afford a qualified teacher for every class!

I don’t have school age children anymore, but when I did I remember thinking it was madness for the poor teachers and kids sitting in those sauna like classrooms not equipped for heat at all while I was nice and cool in an air conned office. I completely understand people who don’t send their kids to school in this heat. They don’t learn much melting away anyway.

It's not nonsense it's science. You open the windows once the outside temperature is lower than your house. You close them and pull blinds when your house is cooler than the outside temperature.

Usually this means open them overnight or early in the morning.

A breeze might feel nice, but if the air breezing through is warmer than the air in the home, it will heat your home, not cool it.

I can barely look after myself in this heat. No way would I look after 30 kids 🤯🥵

Such hot weather that summer of 70whatever is still talked about.