‘Children were calling for their mummies’: UK pupils struggle in 40C-plus classrooms
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- Teachers report classrooms climbing above 40C during recent UK heatwaves, with pupils suffering heatstroke, nausea and headaches — some younger children were laid on the floor covered in wet paper towels while older students were given trays of water to put their feet in.
- Over 1,000 schools in England and Wales closed or partly closed at the peak of the June heatwave, according to PA Media figures, and Department for Education statistics showed one in five school sessions in England were missed — the highest daily absence rate of the 2025-26 academic year.
- The Round Our Way group estimated the economic cost of the June heatwave at between £100m and £200m, citing ripple effects on parents forced to take time off work and the wider community.
- A Round Our Way survey of 1,000 UK parents found more than half had one or more child miss at least a day of school during June's heatwave, 40% reported children coming home overheated and exhausted, and almost two-thirds said UK summers were "starting to feel genuinely unsafe for children."
- The UK's government climate advisers said in May that air conditioning should be installed in all schools within 25 years, declaring the country was "built for a climate that no longer exists" — a timeline one teacher called far too slow given classrooms are already 10 degrees above safe working levels.
- NEU safety rep Jenny Cooper said colleagues had fainted and shared photos of classroom thermometers reading "way over 10 degrees above safe working levels," with staff buying fans and window shades out of their own pockets to try to keep pupils safe.
- The UK entered its third heatwave of the year this week with temperatures peaking at 35C, expected to drag on for 10 sweltering days, while western Europe recorded its hottest June on record amid what the source describes as a "fossil fuel-driven" climate crisis.
Why it matters: With over 1,000 schools already closed in June at an estimated £100m–£200m cost to the economy, and a third heatwave now underway, the gap between the government's 25-year air-conditioning rollout and the immediate reality of classrooms exceeding 40C is forcing teachers, parents and children to absorb the price of an unprepared school estate.
