Dynamic risk assessments for schools worked during Covid - we need the same approach for heatwaves

From teachers and support staff teaching in impossibly hot classrooms, children having to learn in stifling heat, and parents struggling to make caring arrangements when schools have to close in the afternoon.

I teach at a special educational needs school in north-west London. This week, I’ve heard of two instances where staff have collapsed, and ambulances have been called because of the extreme heat. And these are just two examples, but I am sure there are other schools that have experienced the same, and it’s a loud warning that our schools simply aren't built to cope with the temperatures we're now experiencing due to the climate crisis.

As a teacher, I want schools to stay open. Children learn best when they're in the classroom, and, with many of us also being parents and carers to other school-aged children, sorting out last-minute childcare in the middle of a record-breaking heatwave is an additional stress we all don’t need right now.

But this week's heatwave has shown that there comes a point where keeping schools open has to be balanced with keeping people safe.

I'm fortunate that my classroom has air conditioning. Only four classrooms in our school do, and some portable AC units have been donated by parents. We've been able to completely reorganise the timetable so that as many children as possible can spend time cooling down in those rooms, and we've closed at lunchtime each day and used water play with hoses in shaded outdoor areas wherever we can.

Working in a special school gives us some flexibility that I know many other schools don't have.

The reality is that most schools aren’t able to even do some of these things. Many are old buildings that trap heat, with classrooms that have regularly gone above 30 degrees. Fans do very little when temperatures climb into the mid-thirties, and opening windows isn't always possible in noisy or polluted areas.

School leaders and head teachers are doing everything they can with the resources available, but government investment in school buildings has failed to keep pace with the climate we're now living in. Schools need proper funding to retrofit buildings, improve ventilation, install cooling systems where needed, and invest in measures such as solar panels that can help power them sustainably.

The Department for Education must urgently overhaul its heat guidance. Right now, it’s sending advice that simply isn't designed for prolonged extreme heat or high humidity. Telling schools to stay open without providing a robust framework for assessing risk leaves headteachers carrying impossible responsibility.

During Covid, schools worked from dynamic risk assessments that recognised different schools and people faced different challenges. We need the same approach for extreme heat.

Schools should be required to carry out regular heat risk assessments, with specific consideration for vulnerable pupils and staff, including those with underlying health conditions or taking medication that increases heat risk.

Heatwaves are no longer one-off or unprecedented events. They're becoming part of the school year. Government policy needs to catch up with that reality by giving schools the funding, infrastructure and guidance they need to keep everyone safe.

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Jenny Cooper is a teacher in London at a special educational needs school in North West London.

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