Victoria Richards, columnist – ‘School heat closures are a nightmare for working parents like me’My two children have been on tenterhooks this week, waiting to hear whether or not they’re in school – and so have I. At the time of writing, my teenage daughter has been in school for just two hours but is coming home at 11.30am; while my nine-year-old son was off all day yesterday. We still don’t know whether schools will be open or shut tomorrow – when I’m supposed to be on a trip to Birmingham all day. For working parents like me, this is a nightmare. We can’t plan anything – we’re completely at the mercy of the weather. I would obviously prefer my kids to be in school – it’s impossible to do my job as a journalist properly when they aren’t, thanks to the constant cries of “I’m bored” and the incessant demands for snacks. We’ve been here before during lockdown, and it wasn’t pretty – I’d be on a call and one of my kids would be sticking one of my feet to the floor with electrical tape, while the other would be playing a recorder directly into my left ear. But it’s also vital for our children. Their education is suffering because the infrastructure hasn’t caught up to the demands of the climate crisis in 2026. They’re stuck (literally) in the Victorian era, when many of our state schools were first built. The government should make installing air-con units in every school a priority – they should treat it with the same urgency as the Raac-riddled schools that needed to be rebuilt (and were) to stop the ceilings falling in. James Moore, columnist – ‘Schools are right to close early. Kids won’t learn anything in this foul heat’Fun fact: you’ll find many of the people getting their blood in a bubble because schools have (very sensibly) been closing early pontificating from the cool confines of air conditioned offices, protected from the baking heat of the afternoon. Most UK schools don’t have that. Thank goodness, we thought when my daughter’s high school announced they were finishing at 11.40am. None of my family handles heat well. We’re pale skinned, and we tend to wilt when the thermometer pushes past 30C (lower in some cases). If we had Elon Musk money, we’d decamp to Norway. Do the talking heads honestly think that children learn anything worth a damn in these conditions? Here’s a challenge for them: go sit in one of those sweatbox classrooms and try starting A-Level maths. At the end of the week, we’ll have a test. I’m betting the results will be illustrative, but not impressive.Cut the kids some slack, for goodness sake. While we’re at it, cut their poor teachers some too. Given the rhetoric, I wouldn’t blame them for walking out in favour of a nice cool Tesco store, where you work set hours, aren’t marking until half past midnight, and don’t get portrayed as lily livered ne’er do wells by the media.Working parents? I see the issue. But high school age kids can look after themselves. As a former latchkey kid brought up by a working single mother, I know this. Primary age children? How about offering parents this option? At 12pm, the school finishes and the kids can come home. Otherwise, we’ll keep them here and let them play in the most shady places we have available. What a radical notion! Letting children socialise and play when it’s too hot to learn? Whisper it, that can be educational. Who knew?And it is too hot to learn. So critics’ homework for the week is to learn how to spell ‘counterproductive’. Then, maybe ‘cruel’.Victoria Young - ‘If extreme temperatures are the new norm then schools need to adapt’As a parent who lived through school closures during lockdown – and all the many disruptions that that brought – I would err on the side of keeping schools open during a heatwave.Granted, my son, who has just done his GCSEs, is currently enjoying loafing around in a pair of shorts, concentrating hard on no sudden moves. But, generally speaking, if schools can stay open then I think they should, with whatever adaptations – relaxed uniform rules, no PE, shorter lessons, frequent hydration breaks – might help children avoid overheating. Statistics show that missing just 10 days drastically lowers a pupil's odds of achieving their expected exam marks. Over time, school absences severely impact GCSE results and can even reduce future lifetime earning potential. The reality is that while some kids who stay at home will be able to luxuriate in air conditioning, or cool off in front of a fan, looked after by their parents, many kids in schools in deprived areas will be no better off going home – especially primary school kids whose parents have to work and whose living conditions are less than ideal. One of the main aims of most schools – apart from education of course – is to keep kids safe from harm. If extreme temperatures are the new norm then that needs to be added to the list of possible dangers to ward against. It’s time we start learning from other hot countries to work out how to incorporate measures to keep kids safe – and schools open – during heatwaves. For the best comment, analysis and opinion from across The Independent, sign up for our Voices newsletter here.