School closure due to heat

I tsught in Thai schools that had no air con and were hotter than anything the UK has to deal with. Teachers and children coped fine. It's only a 'problem' here (just like snow) because it's unusual. Millions of people live all the time in very hot temperatures.

*taught

Baggs I went to school in both Nigeria and HK.
I seem to remember it used to get a bit warm there too!

They don’t close schools here even when it is 40 C plus. They probably have better ways of dealing with the heat,though.

nanna8

They don’t close schools here even when it is 40 C plus. They probably have better ways of dealing with the heat,though.

That’s probably true. Here some of our children are in prefab buildings which will be like ovens at the moment or 1960s badly built blocks with lots of windows and no or inefficient blinds.

Grandma70s

Schools are not babysitters. Children are the responsibility of their parents.

... yes, I'd guess that parents are, generally, well aware of that fact.

Hence the predicament they might be in.

ginny

For goodness sake!
1976 was boiling hot almost ever day from May onwards. No schools closed, everyone still went to work. We got married in the July. Wedding dress fashion then was long sleeves and high neck.

I had a baby in the August of '76! I was like a beached sweaty male.

Up until now, a few very summer's hot days were an unusual occurrence, so of course provisions were not made for that in the construction of schools in the 1960s.

Going forward, however, this may well have to be a consideration.

Schools also close because of snow, so closing due to extreme heat shouldn't be a surprise. However, I was a teacher in 1976 and our primary school remained open. We took some lessons in the playing field. But I'd like to point out that some schools have internal classrooms with NO windows. ....

Milliedog

Schools also close because of snow, so closing due to extreme heat shouldn't be a surprise. However, I was a teacher in 1976 and our primary school remained open. We took some lessons in the playing field. But I'd like to point out that some schools have internal classrooms with NO windows. ....

Also the temperatures during the 1976 heatwave were 3 degrees less than the current heatwave which is actually a big difference.

25Avalon

Here in South Gloucs there is a red heat alert for Wednesday and Thursday so local schools have decided to close. This is a real problem for working parents who can’t get time off or if one is due to be away on business and their company says they still have to go. Dh is not well at, so difficult fro me to step in. Hopefully other gps who don’t work will be able to help.

I'm in south Gloucestershire also and have just picked up the RED alert after talking to a friend whose daughter is in exactly that position - school closed, every other family member working.

Back in the early 70s when my son's nursery had an emergency closure, I also had that predicament. At the time I was 'temping' in what was then called The Office of Manpower Economics (a quango). I called them, to say I'd not be able to work and the reply was "bring him into the office with you". He was still in nappies and crawling...

Surprisingly, I did manage to get some work done, we boxed him into a corner with chairs and desks and gave him some defunct telephone equipment and other items to play with until he fell asleep in a cardboard box.

I don't think employers would - or can - be so accommodating now.

These heatwaves are going to become a permanent fixture so I believe we're going to have to plan for them. I feel sorry for working parents, and the onus generally falls on the woman.

The bottom line is though that no-one should be forced to run the risk of heat-stroke.

I was newly promoted to branch librarian in the mid 70s and my first posting was a two bus journey across the city. Not pleasant in hot weather. The library had huge glass windows and it was like a greenhouse. No aircon then. We just all went to work as normal.

Last time I checked the building was abandoned and awaiting demolition. So sad.

I suppose this is the result of 'lessons being learned' from 1976.
Many schools will be like ovens. Little work will be done. Many children have bus and train journeys.

Certainly more notice of the likelihood of closures should have been given since this was talked about last week.

But I don't recall it being quite this hot across swathes of the country for days at a time in 1976. Predominant memory is no rain.

Luckygirl3

I had a baby in the August of '76! I was like a beached sweaty male.

Most classrooms were built cheaply and have very big single glazed windows without solar insulation. Keeping children in these is akin to locking a child in a car during the red alert. Children will be safer at home, heat stroke can be avoided if parents act responsibly.

watermeadow

It’s only a couple of days. Working parents are used to sudden collapse of their complicated childcare plans. They coped during a couple of years during Covid.
I don’t think children should be at school in a heatwave. Here, from age four, they have a long walk down steep hills then back up when they are tired at the end of the school day. The secondary school is further away up another steep hill. Not many adults are walking two miles to work.

Who’s walking with these children? We are only really discussing primary school
children, with mobile phones, most children at secondary school could stay alone during the day or possibly spend the day with a friend with a non working parent.

Common sense needs to prevail, my daughter is teaching year 1. Her school is in Essex, it’s hot here atm. Her wife is a chef and still working and no air con in their busy city restaurant.

We cannot just stop because it’s too hot, too cold, too windy, wrong kind of leaves on the line (why my commuter was cancelled once)

We all have to adjust and be sensible.

The school I was working in today was like a sauna and we only had a high of 33. No air moving at all. Grumpy staff, grumpy children, queues for the water cooler - I was glad to call it an afternoon.

Our little Grandson (5) has dreadful hay fever, he has apparently really struggled today despite medication.

Poor little thing he’s sleepy already my daughter said.

I was exactly the same, I remember how debilitating it was, I have great medication now but can remember feeling so tired and uncomfortable.

Greyduster

The school I was working in today was like a sauna and we only had a high of 33. No air moving at all. Grumpy staff, grumpy children, queues for the water cooler - I was glad to call it an afternoon.

I’m not suggesting it’s easy or nice for anyone, just that we need to carry on and adapt, and it’ll be hard.

Cossy

Common sense needs to prevail, my daughter is teaching year 1. Her school is in Essex, it’s hot here atm. Her wife is a chef and still working and no air con in their busy city restaurant.

We cannot just stop because it’s too hot, too cold, too windy, wrong kind of leaves on the line (why my commuter was cancelled once)

We all have to adjust and be sensible.

Exactly 👍🏻

We have two primary schools in our road, one is letting children go home at 12 noon tomorrow and Thursday. So that’s me busy 🤦‍♀️

The statement ‘carry on and adapt’ should be adapt so we can carry on. For example in some Australian states, legislation has made air conditioning in schools mandatory. So this adaptation has allowed schools to carry on.

I had a baby in the August of ‘76

So did I!

Happy days though.

Dickens

Luckygirl3

I had a baby in the August of '76! I was like a beached sweaty male.

Luckygirl3 please tell us you were like a whale... 🐋

Sago

I wonder if staff have to go in?

Teachers who are parents will be at home looking after their own children who can't go to nursery or school because the buildings are too hot.