A new wave of scorching temperatures next week is set to bring significant discomfort for millions of school children packed into busy classrooms.
Tuesday and Wednesday could see temperatures reach up to 38C, prompting the Met Office to issue Amber Extreme Heat Warnings from Monday through to Thursday.
Schools across the countries are working on measures to prevent instances of heat exhaustion and fainting, all of which have been reported during heat waves in recent years.
The Independent takes a look at the problems facing UK schools and whether they could close as temperatures reach a year-high.
Why are schools such a concern during a heatwave?
Concerns over how hot classrooms can become during increasingly scorching summers have been raised by unions, teachers and schools.
In just one example teacher Lucio Poli, who works at Ely St John’s Community Primary School in Cambridgeshire, said their 1990s school building is poorly constructed to cope, with windows facing west and black tiles making it difficult to keep the heat out.
Each year sees reports of children overheating, feeling ill, fatigued, or even passing out.
This can directly impact their capacity to learn. Children with special educational needs, girls in their menstruation or luteal phases, and those with other conditions may in particular struggle to cope during an intense heatwave.
It is also a struggle for teachers, who not only have to cope with the heat themselves but are tasked with engaging dozens of students that “all have their heads on the desk”, Daniel, a deputy head at an inner-city state secondary school in London, told the i.
“During the hottest days, teachers can barely teach, let alone students learn,” he said. “My staff say it’s really hard to function properly.”
What can schools do to keep students cool?
Some schools have already began urging parents to take precautions, including in parts of Wales, where temperatures will hit 35C.
Whitchurch High School told WalesOnline it is putting some “sensible arrangements in place to help students remain safe and comfortable”.
It advised students to bring a refillable water bottle, drink regularly throughout the day, wear a cap or hat when outside, and apply sunscreen before going to school.
A school in Wiltshire is allowing students to wear full PE kit or school uniform without a tie or jumper – including grey shorts or a skirt – from Monday this week.
Sheldon School in Wiltshire, Chippenham, said it was relaxing its uniform policy due to the intense temperatures. It also advised students to bring water bottles and sun protection, and spend their break times in shady spots.
St Peter’s Church of England Primary School in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, has replaced black asphalt playgrounds with artificial turf, refurbished the roof, and installed air conditioning in half the school.
Will schools close this year during the heatwave?
There have yet to be any announcements of widespread school closures due to the current heat, but unions and other bodies are campaigning on the issue to make it more common.
The Climate Change Committee (CCC) and Trades Union Congress both say there should be a maximum temperature limit for schools – proposals the Department for Education (DfE) says it is “carefully considering”.
The DfE’s website currently says that it does not advise schools to close in hot weather, because “school attendance is the best way for pupils to learn and reach their potential”.
After temperatures hit 40C in 2022, Cambridgeshire County Council told schools there was “no limit on maximum temperature”, one teacher told the BBC.
A spokesperson for the council said that schools “would be expected to undertake a risk assessment” and that “very few schools closed completely” during the 2022 heatwave.
But after a record-breaking heatwave in May, some unions called on the government to set a limit on how hot schools can be before they are closed. In early June, education secretary Bridget Phillipson refused to rule out introducing such measures.
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU teaching union, told Tes: “A maximum working temperature for schools would encourage investment into making schools heat-resilient, with mitigations such as air conditioning, which would protect learning, the important exam period, and keep staff and children safe and comfortable.”
When pressed at the beginning of June, the education secretary told The Mirror: “We’ll always look closely at what schools need and I do recognise that some of the temperature fluctuations that we see, and particularly some of the hot weather in recent years, can make life really difficult for teachers and staff and can kind of have an impact on children’s learning as well.”
