UK schools may see further suspension due to heatwave

More than 1,000 UK schools closed for days or sent children home early in late June during the thick of the heatwave.

A British government climate advisory group says adapting to the new norm can take decades, proposing a 25-year timeline for installing air conditioning in older buildings.

For now, students and faculty turn to low-tech, low-budget alternatives in their feeble attempts to beat the heat as they ready for a second wave of high temperatures.

Public schools across the UK are turning to low-tech solutions to beat the scorching summer heat.

Students blast mini hand-held fans, take popsicle breaks between classes, and even dip their toes in buckets of cold water.

Some 10,000 schools have had to close or cut days short to deal with the excruciating heat inside dated buildings where air conditioning is uncommon and structures are built to keep warm air in during winter.

Experts say school closures expose how unprepared Britain is in coping with what climate scientists call a "new normal" of more intense and regular heatwaves.

But it's not just older buildings.

Headteacher at Beaconsfield Primary School in west London Dave Woods says builders did not factor in climate change when building the new wing of his school.

The government's climate advisers recommend installing air conditioning in vulnerable buildings such as schools, hospitals and care homes to combat climate change effects.

Woods is considering installing air conditioning in at least part of the campus.

But money is tight, he explains, and the school gets just 7,000 pounds a year for repairs, far below the cost of 20,000 that's needed to put in a cooling system.

The Climate Change Committee, an independent official group advising the government warned without adaptation, schools will likely suffer more days per year where indoor temperatures hit 35 degrees Celsius or above.

But students will likely have to suffer the heat for generations more;  the advisory says air conditioning should be installed within the next 25 years, ideally with low-carbon systems such as heat pumps that can both heat and cool.