Several local schools closed because of the soaring temperatures in London on Monday and Tuesday (July 18 and 19), write Kit Heren and Herbie Russell…
Three special needs schools – Camberwell and Bermondsey Spa and Haymerle – closed both days. Peter Hills Primary in Rotherhithe and Brunswick Park primary in Camberwell closed for half days.
Other changes to the norm included:
- Fair Lawn primary on Honor Oak Road closed at 1.30pm on Monday and did not open again on Tuesday
- St Thomas the Apostle, Nunhead was open as normal on Monday and Tuesday, but parents were told it was fine to keep their children home if they were more comfortable
- Kingsdale Foundation School, West Dulwich closed on Monday before 3pm
- Compass secondary school, on Drummond Road in Bermondsey, closed at 1.45pm on Monday and Tuesday
- Bacon’s College students in Rotherhithe were at school on Monday and Tuesday
Fair Lawn primary school on Honor Oak Road told parents to pick up their children from 1.30pm on Monday, with temperatures reaching the high-30s.
Parents were also told that the school will be shut for the whole of Tuesday and the afterschool club had also been cancelled “due to the extreme heat”.
At Compass, after school clubs will be running for children whose parents would otherwise be disrupted. Children have also been allowed to wear their PE kits in class in recent weeks because of the heat at Compass and at Bacon’s, where some lessons were moved to more spacious rooms like the sports hall.
St Michael’s Catholic College students were at home anyway, because teachers had pre-planned INSET days on Monday and Tuesday. City of London Academy Southwark, on Lynton Road in Bermondsey was on an academic review day on Monday, so its pupils were also at home.
Children are more susceptible to the heat than adults, because they do not sweat as much. Sweat helps keep body temperature down. The department of education warned that children should not take part in “vigorous” activities in extremely hot weather, such as this week.
Elsewhere in Southwark, the council said six of its twelve libraries – Brandon, Camberwell, Dulwich, John Harvard, Kingswood and Peckham – closed on Tuesday because of the hot weather. The rest remained open, and the council invited anyone who needed to get out of the heat to come in and enjoy the air conditioning.
More alarmingly, there were reports of people swimming in Greenland Dock and Surrey Water in Rotherhithe, in a foolhardy bid to keep cool. Several people have died in the UK over the past couple of days after getting into trouble in the water.
It came as Londoners were advised not to travel if at all possible on Monday and Tuesday. Some Tube and train services were delayed because of the weather.
Outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday that he hoped schools, public transport and other public services could remain open as far as possible.