Stop the meltdown: Closing schools over a bit of heat is raising a generation of snowflakes

Yes, it’s hot. We’re all struggling to sleep, and these temperatures are unexpectedly high for June.

As we are constantly reminded these days, we need to drink gallons of water and stay in the shade and check up on our elderly neighbours and watch out for dogs and make sure babies don’t overheat and close our blinds and so on. We get it.

But every summer, Britons jet off to enjoy temperatures in the mid-30s or higher and call it fabulous holiday weather.

This latest diktat from schools, just like our creaking transport system, proves how unserious we are as a country, how ill-equipped we are to deal with heat, or heavy rain, or a few flakes of snow.

'Snowflakes' is the word: with this overreaction to hot summer weather, we are raising a generation of absolute snowflakes.

My five-year-old son’s school also closed for several days last winter because their heating systems failed and they didn’t want the kids to get chilly.

What message does this send to children? If it’s too hot or too wet or too cold, you just give up?

At my son’s school, a London state primary, the powers-that-be have conducted a “health and safety assessment”.

We’re told classrooms are reaching 40C– so install air-conditioning. Rent some industrial fans and get the children outside and running under sprinklers. Cool them down with a garden hose.

Make it fun, make it educational. I remember the excitement of having lessons under the trees as a special treat during summer term.

Children survived the prolonged heatwave of 1976 – older relatives tell me it was a glorious summer. They jumped in fountains, ate frozen orange segments to cool down, went to the beach, and fried eggs on car bonnets.

And when it’s winter and things get chilly, put on an extra jumper, do star jumps, run around and build campfires. Have a winter adventure for goodness’ sake!

As for “health and safety", this is disingenuous and despicable. In fact, there will be children who suffer during these school closures – and guess what, it’s the disadvantaged kids from poorer families.

Remember Covid lockdowns and the farce of home-schooling? The rich families with large houses and gardens did just fine.

They had laptops and broadband, and some even had private tutors. They had outdoor space to run and play during those long lockdown months.

For poorer families, the attempt to homeschool was a nightmare. And it’s the same right now – a schoolmum friend of mine has four children all off school, living in a cramped high-rise flat.

They have no air-conditioning, no garden or other outdoor space. She cannot even take them to the park because she has a newborn baby.

If that’s not a safeguarding issue, tell me what is. I’m not blaming individual teachers. Many of them are miracle workers; they educate and care for our children and work extremely hard.

But these decisions by head teachers and the Department for Education are unacceptable. When you close schools, you shut down work too.

This is an unnecessary disruption to the lives of working parents and to the UK economy.

It’s also a scandalous way to interrupt the education of many young children. The Department for Education should hang their heads in shame.

They fine parents for “unauthorised pupil absence” – yes, your local council can issue a fixed penalty notice of £80 rising to £160 if you don’t pay within 21 days.

If you’re taken to court, you could face a fine of £2,500 or even a jail sentence.

Perhaps I’ll start charging my little boy’s school for “unauthorised closure” and see how that goes down.

Meanwhile, head teachers need to calm down, cool down, stop these summer meltdowns and get back to doing their jobs.